J 


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Mniytrsity  of  California  •  Berkeley 

Bequest     of 
LOUISIANA    SCOTT    SHUMAN 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/adventuresofbigfOOduvarich 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF 
BIG-FOOT  WALLACE 


'BIG-FOOT   WALLACE' 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

Big-Foot  Wallace 

THE  TEXAS  RANGER 
AND  HUNTER 

BY 
JOHN  C.  DUVAL 

Author  of  "Jack  Dobell,  or,  A  Boy's  Adventures  in  Texas" 
"The  Young  Explorers,  or  Boy-Life  in  Texas,"  Etc. 

With  'Portrait  and  Engravings 

FOURTH  EDITION 


MACON.  GEORGIA 

THE  J.  W.  BURKE  COMPANY 

1921 


Entered,  accordine  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1870.  by 

J.  W.  BURKE  A  CO. 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 

Southern  District  of  Georsria 


L^AK'f.  I;fi|    I    I  ||:  |;AI;V 


PREFACE 


mi 


T 


"^HE  writer  of  this  little  book  is  well  aware  that 
it  will  not  stand  the  test  of  criticism  as  a  liter- 
ary production.  A  frontiersman  himself,  his  op- 
portunities for  acquiring  information,  and  for  supply- 
ing the  deficiencies  of  a  rather  limited  education,  have 
of  course  been  "few  and  far  between;"  and  therefore 
it  cannot  reasonably  be  expected  that  he  could  make  a 
book  under  such  circumstances  which  would  not  be 
sadly  defective  as  to  style  and  composition.  How- 
ever, it  can  justly  lay  claim  to  at  least  one  merit,  not 
often  found  in  similar  publications — it  is  not  a  com- 
pilation of  imaginary  scenes  and  incidents,  concocted 
in  the  brain  of  one  who  never  was  beyond  the  sound 
of  a  dinner-bell  in  his  life,  but  a  plain,  unvarnished 
story  of  the  "  'scapes  and  scrapes"  of  Big-Foot  Wal- 
lace, the  Texas  Ranger  and  Hunter,  written  out  from 
notes  furnished  by  himself,  and  told,  as  well  as  my 
memory  serves  me,  in  his  own  language. 

"Big-Foot  Wallace"  is,  perhaps,  better  known 
throughout  Texas  as  an  Indian-fighter,  hunter,  and 
ranger,  than  any  one  now  living  in  the  State ;  which  is 
saying  a  good  deal,  when  the  great  number  who  have 
acquired  more  or  less  notoriety  in  that  way  is  taken 
into  consideration.  Few  men  now  living,  I  am  confi- 
dent, have  witnessed  as  many  stirring  incidents,  had 
more  "hair-breadth  escapes,"  or  gone  through  more 
of  the  hardships  and  perils  of  a  border  life.  He  was  a 
participant  in  almost  every  fight,  foray,  and  "scrim- 
mage" with  the  Mexicans  and  Indians  that  took  place 
;*  m  Texas  after  he  first  landed  on  her  shores  in  1836. 


viii  PREFACE 

Pioneers,  or  frontiersmen,  are  a  class  of  men  pecu- 
liar to  our  country,  and  seem  to  have  been  designed 
especially  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  occasion.  With 
their  "iron  nerves,"  great  powers  of  endurance,  and 
indomitable  "go-a-headativeness,"  they  have  been 
essentially  useful  in  clearing  the  way  through  the  wil- 
derness from  such  obstacles  as  would  have  been  per- 
haps insurmountable  to  those  coming  after  them. 
Their  mission  has  been  very  nearly  accomplished. 
Like  the  flatboat-men  of  the  Mississippi,  who  have 
entirely  disappeared  as  a  class  since  the  introduction 
of  steamboats  on  that  river  and  its  tributaries,  their 
numbers  are  steadily  decreasing  before  the  extension 
of  railroads  and  the  area  of  civilization.  Only  here 
and  there  one  is  still  found  in  our  midst,  whom  disease, 
wounds,  or  old  age  have  rendered  incapable  of  further 
contests  with  the  Indians  and  other  denizens  of  the 
forests  and  plains,  and  of  enduring  the  hardships  and 
exposure  of  a  life  in  the  wilderness.  As  a  class,  fron- 
tiersmen are  observant  and  knowing  in  all  that  per- 
tains to  their  peculiar  mode  of  life,  and  as  deeply 
versed  in  all  the  mysteries  of  woodcraft  as  the  wily 
savage  himself ;  but  they  are  guileless  and  unsuspicious 
as  a  child,  and  whenever  they  come  in  conflict  with  the 
shrewd,  calculating  man  of  business,  they  are  as  help- 
less as  a  "stranded  whale."  For  this  reason,  they 
seldom  accumulate  property,  and  those  who  follow 
after  them  generally  reap  the  reward  of  all  their 
perils,  toils,  and  hardships. 

Wallace  is  no  exception  to  this  rule,  and  the  best 
days  of  his  life  were  freely  given  to  the  service  of  his 
country. 

The  Author. 


CONTENTS 

Page 
CHAPTER  L— Introductory 1 

CHAPTER  II.— Wallace's  Initiation  into  the  Mysteries 
of  Woodcraft . 4 

CHAPTER  III.— On  the  Route— The  Old  Lady  and  the 
Truck-Patch 6 

CHAPTER  IV.— A  Rattlesnake  Bite— Singular  Spring- 
Wild  Artichokes — Indian  Art  Gallery — Wallace's  First 
Bear 11 

CHAPTER  v.— Buffalo— Fine  Grove  of  Pecan  Trees— 
The  First  Buffalo — Bit  by  a  Rattlesnake — The  Taran- 
tula— Traveling  Under  Difficulties — A  Free  Serenade 15 

CHAPTER  VI.— The  Palo  Pinto  at  Last— The  Camp  in 
the  Valley — Wallace's  Last  Look  at  the  Camp — The 
Indians — A  Tight  Race — Wallace  Kills  His  First  Indian     19 

CHAPTER  VII.— Lost  Among  the  Ravines— A  Lucky 
Shot — Comfortable  Quarters — A  Petrified  Forests — The 
Mexican  Gourd — Wallace  Makes  a  Friend 26 

CHAPTER  VIII.— My  Little  Valley— A  Sad  Accident- 
Wild  Turkeys — On  Crutches — On  the  Tramp  Again — 
A  Last  Look 35 

CHAPTER  IX.— Gold— Indian  Smokes— Comanche  Un- 
easy— Captured  by  the  Indians — Mysterious  Movements 
—The  Old  Squaw— What  Next? 40 

CHAPTER  X.— Led  Out  for  Execution— Saved  at  the 
Last  Moment — A  New  Mother  and  a  New  Home — Co- 
manche in  Luck  Again — *'Lobo-lusti-hadjo" 46 

CHAPTER  XL— Black- Wolf's  Indian  Legend— Determi- 
nation to  Escape — Back  in  the  Settlements 51 

CHAPTER  XII.— Belated  in  the  Woods— Wolves  on  the 
Track — One  Fellow  Out  of  the  Way — Reinforcements 
Coming  Up— A  Hand-to-Hand  Fight 58 

CHAPTER  XIII.— A  Struggle  for  Life— Fight  With  the 
"Big  Indian" 64 

CHAPTER  XIV.— A  Tight  Place— Indian  Signs— Ben 
Wade's  Motto — Ben  and  the  Buffalo  Ribs — "Ingins 
About"— Here  They  Come 71 

ix 


X  CONTENTS 

Page 
CHAPTER  XV.— A   Warm    Reception— 'Tire    and    Fall 
Back"— Hot  Work— A  Natural  Coward— Four  at  a  Shot 
— Lassoing  Dead  Indians 11 

CHAPTER  XVI.— More  Comanches  on  the  War-Track— 
Keeping  a  Stiff  Upper  Lip — On  a  False  Trail — Ben 
Wade  Wants  His  Dinner— "Mr.  John"  Outwitted 81 

CHAPTER  XVII.— A  Night  Visit  From  the  Indians- 
Afoot,  and  Ten  Miles  to  Travel — On  the  Trail — A  Curi- 
ous Specimen 85 

CHAPTER  XVIII.— Story  of  the  Indian-hater —  The 
Move  From  Kentucky — New  Home  in  Texas — Wife  and 
Children  Murdered  by  the  Indians — Terrible  Revenge — 
A  Dangerous  Companion — The  Indian  Carnp.^ 93 

CHAPTER  XIX.— Attacking  the  Indians— Narrow  Es- 
cape— The  Indian-hater  at  Work — Forgot  to  Untie  His 
Horse — A  Dying  Struggle — Worse  Scared  Than  Hurt — 
Dinner  Ready  Cooked — Return  to  the  Settlements,  and 
Disappearance  of  the  Indian-hater 98 

CHAPTER  XX.— Wallace  Makes  a  Treaty  With  the 
Lipan  Indians — The  Indians  Break  It — Preparation  to 
Punish  Them — First  Appearance  of  a  Live  Author 103 

CHAPTER  XXL— The  Author  Again— The  Boys  Make 
Fun  of  His  Umbrella — His  Pistol  "Goes  Off"  and  Cre- 
ates an  Excitement — Mr.  Cooper's  Indian  Characters — 
Some  Sage  Reflections  on  Character— The  Author  Wants 
a  Bed,  and  Gets  Tige's  Buffalo  Robe — "Something  Like 
a  Pillow" — Troublesome  Bedfellows — The  Start  After 
the   Indians 111 

CHAPTER  XXII.— The  Sudden  Storm— Sad  Fate  of  the 
"Author's"  Umbrella— What  He  Thought  of  Mr.  Cooper 
— The  Author  Goes  a-Hunting,  and  What  He  Found — 
He  Pronounces  Mr.  Cooper  a  Humbug 118 

CHAPTER  XXIII.— Our  Author  Has  an  Appetite  — 
Scarcity  of  Water — The  Author  Takes  Notes,  and  the 
Men  Get  Riled— The  Mud-Puddle 125 

CHAPTER  XXIV.— Plenty  of  Water— A  Halt  for  Re- 
freshments— Our  Author  Among  the  Rocks — He  Meets 
With  an  Adventure — Treed  by  Mexican  Hogs — He 
Grows  Desperate — Is  Released  at  Last — Adventure 
With  a  Rattlesnake — More  Scared  Than  Hurt 130 

CHAPTER  XXV.— Another  Rattlesnake— How  to  Man- 
age Rattlesnakes — Terrific  Adventure  With  a  Grape- 
vine Rattlesnake 143 


CONTENTS  XI 

Page 
CHAPTER    XXVI.— Fresh    Signs    of   the    Indians— Our 
Author  in  Trouble  Again — Scatter  Guns  Compared  With 
Bows  and  Arrows 149 

CHAPTER  XXVII.— The  Indians  Overtaken— Desperate 
Fight — The  Author  Proves  Himself  a  Good  Soldier — 
The  Indian  Girl — The  Author  Has  a  Race  for  His  Life — 
The  Umbrella  Comes  in  Play — Gathering  Up  the  Spoils 
— The  Horses  Recovered — Farewell  to  the  Author 154 

CHAPTER  XXVIIL— Wallace  Surprises  a  Party  of  In- 
dians Who  Were  Making  Themselves  "Comfortable" 
near  His  Ranch 163 

CHAPTER  XXIX.— The  "Mier  Expedition" 167 

CHAPTER  XXX.— Over  the  Rio  Grande  Again— A  Cost- 
ly Exchange — Reception  by  the  Mexicans — Firing  an 
"Escopeta" —  Fighting  in  Earnest — Captain  Cameron 
and  the  Mexican  Soldier 172 

CHAPTER  XXXI.— Surrender  to  the  Mexicans— General 
Green's  Proposition — Marched  Off  to  Prison — The 
Mexican  Maiden — Oflf  for  Camargo — A  Short  Stay,  and 
OflF  Again — Reinosa 179 

CHAPTER  XXXII.— Off  for  Matamoros— Distinguished 
Reception  at  Matamoros — An  Oratorical  Display  — 
Again  on  the  Road — A  Serious  Loss — Goat  or  Dog? 185 

CHAPTER  XXXIII.— Still  on  the  Road— Inhuman  Treat- 
ment— Wallace  Uses  His  "Big  Foot"  to  Advantage — 
Planning  an  Escape — Disappointment — Monterey — The 
Tarantula — Change  of  Commanders,  and  Off  Again — 
Rinconada — Another  Plan  of  Escape,  and  Another  Dis- 
appointment—Arrival at  Saltillo,  and  a  Determination—  191 

CHAPTER  XXXIV.— Successful  Attack  on  the  Mexican 
Guard — Bravery  of  Colonel  Barragan — Retreat  From 
Salado — Rapid  Traveling — Bad  Counsels — Suffering  for 
Water — In  Difficulties — Water  at  Last — The  Horses 
Killed  and  Eaten 197 

CHAPTER  XXXV.— A  Dreary  Prospect— No  Water- 
Dying  by  the  Wayside — Hunger  and  Thirst — Dreaming 
of  Water — Hopes  and  Disappointments — Captured  by 
the  Mexicans — Water  at  Last — Wretched  Condition  of 
the  Survivors 205 


XII  CONTENTS 

Page 
CHAPTER  XXXVL— Encampment  at  the  Water-Hole— 
Wretched  Appearance  of  the  Men — March  Back  to  Sal- 
tillo — Mexican  Vermin — How  Wallace  Was  Dressed — 
Mexican  Vegetation — The  Tiger  Thorn — Conflicting 
Rumors 213 

CHAPTER  XXXVIL— Sudden  Change  of  Quarters— 
Rancho  Salado  Once  More — Brutal  Order — The  Draw- 
ing of  the  Beans — "Dip  Deep,  Boys" — The  Baboon-faced 
Mexican  Officer — Indifference  of  the  Men — The  One 
Exception — Wallace  Draws  a  White  Bean — "Ould  Ire- 
land Forever" — Speedy  Execution — A  Miraculous  Es- 
cape, and  Subsequent  Death 220 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII.— San  Luis  Potosi— Queretaro— 
Tuli — The  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta — Murder  of  Captain 
Cameron — Arrival  at  the  City  of  Mexico — Put  to  Work 
on  the  Public  Road — How  Wallace  Got  His  Pay — How 
One  of  the  Men  "Played  Horse" — Escape  of  Prisoners — 
Why  Wallace  Was  Called  "Big-Foot" — "Texas  Canni- 
bals"   231 

CHAPTER  XXXIX.— Puebla—Perote— Wallace  Has  "Jail 
Fever" — The  Surgeon-General  Saves  His  Life — Seeing 
the  Animals — More  Men  Escape — Final  Release,  and 
Start  Home — Stopped  by  Robbers,  Who  Prove  to  Be 
Very  Clever  Fellows — Yellow  Fever — Home  Again 238 

CHAPTER  XL.— Wallace  Hears  from  Virginia— Civilized 
Compared  With  Uncivilized  Life — He  Determines  to 
Take  a  Trip  to  the  "Old  States" — Lays  in  a  "Civilized" 
Wardrobe — An  Old  Friend  Finds  Him  Disguised  in  His 
New  Clothes — Starts  on  His  Journey — Wallace's  Opin- 
ion of  the  Sea — At  New  Orleans,  and  What  He  Saw 
There 244 

CHAPTER  XLL— Wallace  Goes  to  the  Theatre— His 
Opinion  of  "Play-Actors" — The  Dancing  Woman — 
Wallace  Gets  Excited — The  St.  Charles  "Tavern" — How 
He  Registered  His  Name — Wallace  is  Afraid  of  a  Fire — 
He  Breakfasts  at  the  St.  Charles,  and  Gets  Up  an  Ex- 
citement— The  Bill  of  Fare — Fried  Fullfrogs 252 

CHAPTER  XLIL— Wallace  Meets  With  an  Adventure- 
Goes  to  a  Quadroon  Ball  and  Teaches  Them  "The  Stam- 
pede"— Wallace  Takes  a  "White  Lion,"  and  Pays  for  It 
—Has  His  Fortune  Told— What  Followed 260 


CONTENTS  XIU 

Page 
CHAPTER  XLIIL— Wallace  in  Trouble— Leaves  New 
Orleans — On  the  Mississippi — A  Boat  Race — Wallace 
Roars  Like  a  Mexican  Lion — He  "Sells"  a  Dandy — 
"Running  Against  a  Snag" — Anchored  on  a  Sand-bank 
— Damage  Repaired,  and  Arrival  at  Cincinnati 272 

CHAPTER  XLIV.— Cincinnati— Waiter  Girls  at  the  Hotel 
— Wallace  Discourses  on  Politeness — Southerners  and 
Yankees — A  Little  Dish  of  Politics — Goes  to  Dan  Rice's 
Circus — Rides  a  Refractory  Horse,  and  Makes  Twenty 
Dollars— What  Wallace  Thought  of  Cincinnati 280 

CHAPTER  XLV.— Off  for  Wheeling— Everybody  Smok- 
ing— Wallace's  First  Trip  in  the  Cars — What  He 
Thought  of  Railroad  Traveling — Richmond — The  Dime 
Restaurant — Wallace  Goes  to  a  Fire,  and  Gets  "Put  Out" 
— What  He  Thought  of  Prince  Albert — Wallace  Leaves 
Richmond,  and  Goes  to  Lexington — What  His  Relatives 
Thought  of  Him— The  "Wild  Texan"  at  a  "Fandango," 
Where  He  Tells  Some  "Big  Stories" — Miss  Matilda,  and 
What  She  Heard — Wallace  Gets  Tired  of  Civilization, 
and  Goes  Back  to  Texas 287 

CHAPTER  XLVL— Wallace  Gives  Jack  Dobell  His 
Opinion  of  Farming — Uncle  Josh— The  Jews  a  Sensible 
People — Wallace  Makes  His  Arrangements  for  a  Crop — 
He  and  "Keechie"  Try  Ploughing — Both  Disgusted — 
Queer  Muskmelon — Ruined  by  the  Drougth — How  Wal- 
lace Was  Cheated  Out  of  His  "Roasting-ears" — Living 
on  Watermelons  and  "Poor  Doe" — Wallace's  Future 
Prospects — Conclusion 300 


SKETCH  OF  WALLACE'S  LIFE 

ILLIAM  A.  WALLACE  was  born  in  Lexington,  Rock- 
bridge. County,  Virginia,  in  the  year  1816.  He  went  to 
Texas  in  1836,  a  few  months  after  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  for 
the  purpose,  he  says,  of  taking  pay  out  of  the  Mexicans  for  the 
murder  of  his  brother  and  his  cousin,  Major  Wallace,  both  of 
whom  fell  at  "Fannin's  Massacre."  He  says  he  believes  ac- 
counts with  them  are  now  about  square. 

He  landed  first  at  Galveston,  which  consisted  then  of  six 
groceries  and  an  old  stranded  hulk  of  a  steamboat,  used  as  a 
hotel,  and  for  a  berth  in  which  he  paid  at  the  rate  of  three 
dollars  per  day.  From  Galveston,  Wallace  went  on  to  La 
Grange,  then  a  frontier  village,  where  he  resided  until  the 
spring  of  1839,  when  he  moved  to  Austin,  just  before  the  seat 
of  government  was  established  at  that  place.  He  remained  at 
Austin  until  the  spring  of  1840,  when  finding  that  the  country 
was  settling  up  around  him  too  fast  to  suit  his  notions,  he 
went  over  to  San  Antonio,  where  he  resided  until  he  entered 
the  service. 

He  was  at  the  battle  of  the  Salado,  in  the  fall  of  1842,  when 
General  Woll  came  in  and  captured  San  Antonio.  The  fight 
began  about  11  o'clock  in  the  day,  and  lasted  until  night.  Gen- 
eral Woll  had  fourteen  hundred  men,  and  the  Texans  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety-seven,  under  Caldwell  (commonly  known  as 
"Old  Paint").  Between  eighty  and  one  hundred  Mexicans 
were  killed,  while  the  Texans  lost  only  one  man  (Jett).  Forty 
men,  however,  from  La  Grange,  under  Captain  Dawson,  who 
were  endeavoring  to  form  a  junction  with  them,  were  sur- 
rounded and  captured  by  the  Mexicans,  who  massacred  them 
all  as  soon  as  they  had  surrendered  their  arms. 

In  the  fall  of  1842,  he  volunteered  in  the  "Mier  Expedition," 
an  account  of  which  appears  in  this  volume.  After  his  return 
from  Mexico,  he  joined  Colonel  Jack  Hays's  Ranging  Com- 
pany, the  first  ever  regularly  enlisted  in  the  service  of  the  "old 
Republic,"  and  was  with  it  in  many  of  those  desperate  en- 
counters with  the  Comanches  and  other  Indians,  in  which 
Hays,  Walker,  McCulloch,  and  Chevalier  gained  their  reputa- 
tions as  successful  Indian-fighters. 

When  the  Mexican  war  broke  out  in  1846,  Wallace  joined 
Colonel  Hays's  regiment  of  mounted  volunteers,  and  was  with 


SKETCH  OF  Wallace's  life  xv 

it  at  the  storming  of  Monterey,  where  he  says  he  took  "full 
toll"  out  of  the  Mexicans  for  killing  his  brother  and  cousin  at 
Goliad  in  1836. 

After  the  Mexican  war  ended,  he  had  command  of  a  Ranging 
Company  for  some  time,  and  did  good  service  in  protecting 
the  frontiers  of  the  State  from  the  incursions  of  the  savages. 
Subsequently  he  had  charge  of  the  mail  from  San  Antonio  to 
El  Paso,  and,  though  often  waylaid  and  attacked  by  the  In- 
dians, he  always  brought  it  through  in  safety. 


WILLIAM  WALLACE 

By  Dr.  F.  O.  Ticknor 

His  life  is  past  the  forties — his  length  is  six  foot  two — 
And  both  his  feet  import  he's  not  a  fly  to  shoe! 
They  dubbed  him  Big-Foot  Wallace  down  in  Mexico, 
As  Liliput  would  call  his  Brobdignag,  you  know. 

Straight  as  a  rifle-rammer,  and  lightly  too  he  stands, 
Tho'  weighted  with  sledge-hammer  in  each  of  his  great  hands! 
Grave  as  his  own  gun-barrel,  yet  gracious  with  the  grim. 
And  when  we  pick  a  quarrel  we  mustn't  pick  at  him! 

A  plant  of  the  "red  ripper,"  whose  level  eye-light  means 
A  charge  of  Chili  pepper  ballasted  with  "Beans." 
A  loyal  soul!  I'll  pound  it  as  ever  ruled  the  ranch; 
And  so  the  Doodles  found  it,  and  also  the  Comanche! 

And  so  the  little  Greasers!  They  say  he  used  to  catch 

A  score  of  their  Mestizoes  to  grease  his  bullet-patch! 

May  they  be  bothered  wholly — in  body  and  in  soul! 

For  the  mills  are  grinding  slowly  and  Wallace  takes  the  toll. 

His  features  so  resemble  his  sire's,  a  cycle  back, 
That  curs  and  tyrants  tremble  to  come  upon  his  track! 
Here's  Hope's  un-Butlered  chalice;  here's  loyalty's  last  wine! 
And  here's — To  William  Wallace  the  Second,  by  his — "Sign!" 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

BIG-FOOT  WALLACE 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTORY 

IN  1867,  while  temporarily  sojourning  in  the  city 
of  San  Antonio,  I  had  a  severe  attack  of  fever, 
from  the  effects  of  which  I  recovered  but  slowly. 
Thinking  that  fresh  air  and  exercise  would  aid  me  in 
regaining  my  health  and  strength,  I  mounted  my 
horse  one  fine  morning  in  the  latter  part  of  October, 
and  set  out  for  the  "ranch"  of  my  quondam  messmate 
and  compadre,  "Big-Foot  Wallace,"  who  held  an  un- 
certain tenure  upon  a  tract  of  pasture  land,  situated 
on  the  Chacon,  one  of  the  head-waters  of  the  Attas- 
coso.  I  say,  uncertain,  for  his  right  to  and  possession 
of  the  same  was  constantly  disputed  and  ignored  by 
predatory  bands  of  savages,  and  Mexicans,  and  horse 
thieves  of  all  colors,  grades,  and  nations. 

Toward  sundown,  from  the  top  of  a  considerable 
hill,  I  came  in  sight  of  Wallace's  little  ranch,  snugly 
ensconced  at  the  bottom  of  a  valley,  near  the  margin 
of  a  small  lake,  and  protected  from  the  northern  blasts 
by  a  beautiful  grove  of  spreading  live-oaks.  As  I  rode 
up  I  discovered  Wallace  under  one  of  these  trees, 
engaged  in  the  characteristic  occupation  of  skinning 
a  deer,  which  was  hanging  head  downward,  suspended 
from  one  of  its  lower  branches.  Wallace  did  not 


2  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

recognize  me  at  first,  for  it  was  many  years  since  we 
had  last  met ;  but,  as  soon  as  I  made  myself  known  to 
him,  he  gave  me  a  cordial  shake  of  the  hand,  and 
invited  me  into  his  ranch,  where,  in  a  short  time,  he 
prepared  a  supper,  to  which  I  sat  down,  "nothing 
loath,"  for  my  appetite  was  sharpened  by  my  long 
day's  ride. 

I  staid  with  Wallace  two  weeks,  or  thereabouts, 
hunting,  fishing  and  riding  around  during  the  day,  and 
entertained  each  night  with  "yarns"  of  his  numerous 
"  'scapes  and  scrapes,  by  flood  and  field."  Many  years 
previously,  when  Wallace  and  I  were  messmates  to- 
gether, in  the  first  Ranging  Company,  enlisted  in  the 
service  of  the  "Old  Republic,"  under  Colonel  Jack 
Hays,  I  asked  his  consent  to  write  out  a  narrative  of 
his  "adventures,"  to  be  published  for  the  benefit  of 
the  public  generally.  But  he  seemed  so  much  opposed 
to  my  doing  so,  that  I  did  not  press  the  matter  upon 
him.  His  reasons  for  refusing  to  accede  to  my  request 
were  characteristic  of  the  man.  He  did  not  think  the 
public  would  be  interested  in  the  history  of  one  so 
little  known;  and,  even  if  he  had  vanity  enough  to 
believe  otherwise,  he  had  not  the  least  desire  to  see 
himself  figuring  in  print.  I  determined  once  more  to 
approach  him  on  the  subject,  and  this  time  I  had  bet- 
ter success  than  formerly,  for  finally,  though  evidently 
with  reluctance,  he  consented  that  I  should  publish  the 
following  narrative  of  his  adventures  in  Mexico  and 
on  the  frontiers  of  Texas. 

"There  is,"  I  said  to  Wallace,  "one  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  writing  out  your  'adventures,'  which  I  do  not 
exactly  know  how  to  get  over ;  and  that  is,  you  do  not 
murder  the  king's  English  with  every  other  word  you 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  3 

speak.  Now,  in  all  the  books  I  have  ever  read,  in 
which  backwoodsmen  or  frontiersmen  figure,  they  are 
always  made  to  talk  without  the  least  regard  to  the 
rules  of  grammar." 

"I  know,"  said  Wallace,  *'that  my  education  is  a 
very  limited  one,  but  do  give  me  credit  for  the  little  I 
have.  People  are  not  such  fools  as  to  think  that  a  man 
cannot  be  a  good  hunter  or  ranger,  merely  because 
he  speaks  his  own  language  passably  well." 

And  so,  in  compliance  with  Wallace's  request,  in 
the  following  narrative  of  his  "adventures,"  I  have 
ignored  the  time-honored  rule  of  making  him  speak 
in  slang  and  misspelt  words,  and  tell  the  story  "just  as 
it  was  told  to  me." 


CHAPTER  II. 

Wallace's  Initiation  into  the  Mysteries  of  Woodcraft 

OON  after  I  came  out  to  Texas,  in  1837,  said 
Wallace,  being  out  of  employment,  and  having 
no  inclination  to  loaf  around  the  "groceries"  of 
a  little  village,  I  looked  about  for  something  to  do  ; 
but  for  several  weeks  no  ''opening"  presented  itself. 
At  length  a  surveyor,  who  was  preparing  for  an  expe- 
dition to  locate  lands  upon  the  frontier,  made  me  an 
offer  to  go  with  him,  which  I  gladly  accepted.  At  that 
time,  as  an  Irishman  would  say,  I  was  "as  green  as  a 
red  blackberry,"  and  I  frankly  told  the  surveyor  that 
I  knew  nothing  about  the  woods  or  how  to  get  along 
in  them.  But  he  said  that  made  no  difference,  as  the 
rest  of  the  party  were  all  old  frontiersmen,  and  it  was 
well  enough  to  have  one  "green-horn"  along  to  make 
sport  for  the  balance. 

It  was  a  week  or  ten  days  before  we  were  ready  to 
start,  and  in  the  meantime  I  prepared  myself  for  the 
"expedition"  as  well  as  I  knew  how.  I  had  brought 
with  me  from  Virginia  a  good  rifle,  a  pair  of  Derrin- 
ger pistols,  and  a  bowie-knife  (that  you  know  was 
before  the  days  of  six  shooters) ,  so  that  there  was  no 
necessity  for  my  hunting  up  firearms.  I  bought  a  good 
stout  Spanish  pony,  with  saddle,  bridle,  etc.,  and  laid 
in  an  ample  supply  of  ammunition  and  tobacco ;  and 
when  the  surveying  party  were  ready  to  start,  I  joined 
them  "armed  and  equipped  as  the  law  directs." 

Our  party  consisted  of  a  guard  of  ten  men,  well 
armed  and  mounted,  together  with  the  surveyor,  two 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  5 

chainmen,  a  marker,  a  hunter,  and  a  cook,  making  in 
all  sixteen  men — a  sufficient  force  to  travel  with 
safety,  at  that  day,  in  the  most  dangerous  part  of  the 
country.  At  that  time,  one  American,  well  armed,  was 
considered  a  match  for  eight  or  ten  Indians,  with  their 
bows  and  arrows  and  miserable  guns ;  but  now,  thanks 
to  the  traders,  they  are  well  furnished  with  good 
rifles  and  "six-shooters,"  and  can  hold  their  own,  man 
for  man. 

The  first  day  out,  we  traveled  only  a  few  miles,  and 
encamped  on  a  beautiful  little  clear  stream,  where  I 
killed  my  first  deer.  I  thought  I  had  performed  a 
wonderful  feat,  for  I  had  never  killed  anything  before 
larger  than  a  squirrel  or  a  'possum,  and  I  proudly 
returned  to  camp  with  the  deer  on  my  shoulders,  try- 
ing all  the  time,  though,  to  look  as  if  the  killing  of  a 
deer  was  no  unusual  thing  with  me.  But  the  boys  sus- 
pected me,  and  when  I  owned  up  that  it  was  the  first 
deer  I  had  ever  shot,  two  or  three  of  them  seized  me, 
while  as  many  more  smeared  my  face  and  hands  with 
the  blood  of  the  animal — a  sort  of  ceremony,  they 
said,  by  which  I  was  "initiated"  into  the  brotherhood 
of  "mighty  hunters."  I  suppose  I  was  "initiated,"  as 
they  called  it,  for  I  have  killed  many  a  hundred  deer 
since  that  time,  to  say  nothing  of  buffalo,  bear,  elk, 
wolves,  panthers,  Mexican  lions,  catamounts,  and 
other  "varmints"  too  numerous  to  mention. 


CHAPTER  III. 

On  the  Route— The  Old  Lady  and  the  Truck-patch 


ini 


/"  ]f  ^HE  next  day  we  started  just  after  sunrise,  and 
•aveled  twenty-five  miles  over  a  beautiful  roll- 
ing country,  watered  with  clear  streams,  and 
encamped  at  night  in  a  pecan  grove  near  a  fine  spring. 
Just  at  dark,  a  large  drove  of  turkeys  flew  up  into  the 
trees  around,  and  we  killed  five  or  six  of  them,  and 
spitted  them  before  our  fires.  These,  together  with  a 
fat  doe  killed  by  our  hunter  on  the  way,  furnished  us 
with  an  ample  supply  of  provender,  while  an  abun- 
dance of  fine  mesquite  grass  in  the  vicinity  enabled  our 
horses  to  fare  as  sumptuously  as  ourselves. 

The  next  morning,  after  an  early  breakfast,  we 
saddled  up  and  again  took  the  road,  or  rather  our 
course,  for  there  was  no  road,  and  went  about  twelve 
miles  to  a  water-hole,  where  there  was  good  grass, 
and  where  we  "nooned"  for  a  couple  of  hours.  The 
country  passed  over  was  all  high  rolling  prairie,  inter- 
spersed with  "mots"  of  elm  and  hackberry.  While  all 
hands  were  taking  a  comfortable  snooze  here,  we 
came  near  losing  our  horses.  A  wolf  or  some  other 
wild  animal  gave  them  a  scare  and  they  "stampeded," 
and  all  broke  their  halter-ropes,  except  one,  and  ran 
ofF  several  miles.  One  of  the  men,  however,  mounted 
the  horse  that  was  left,  and,  after  a  chase  of  several 
hours,  succeeded  in  bringing  them  all  back.  In  con- 
sequence of  the  delay  caused  by  this  incident,  we  went 
only  five  miles  farther  that  evening,  and  encamped  in 
the  edge  of  the  bottom  timber,  on  a  small  stream. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  7 

The  country  we  passed  over  was  of  the  same  charac- 
ter as  that  we  had  formerly  seen.  As  soon  as  we  had 
"staked"  out  our  horses,  I  rigged  up  a  fishing-line, 
and  in  half  an  hour  caught  a  fine  mess  of  perch,  and 
several  "Caspar  Goo,"  a  fish  found,  I  believe,  only  in 
the  streams  of  Texas,  somewhat  similar  to  the  white 
perch  of  the  "old  States."  Great  numbers  of  turkeys 
came  at  dark  to  roost  in  the  trees  in  our  vicinity,  and 
they  were  so  tame  that  we  had  no  trouble  in  killing  as 
many  as  we  wanted. 

[Here  we  quote  from  Wallace's  journal.] 

October  lyth. — Made  an  early  start  again,  and 
went  fifteen  miles,  when  we  halted  to  rest  on  a  little 
creek,  called  by  the  hunters  "Burnt  Boot."  The  coun- 
try passed  over  high  and  rolling,  and  about  "half-and- 
half"  prairie  and  woodland.  Here  Is  the  last  white 
settlement,  I  am  told,  we  shall  see  for  many  a  long 
day.  A  man  by  the  name  of  Benson  lives  here,  and 
supports  himself  and  family  by  hunting  and  trapping 
and  cultivating  a  small  patch  of  land.  I  went  up  to 
his  house  to  see  if  anything  in  the  way  of  vegetables 
could  be  had.  Benson  was  out  hunting,  but  his  wife, 
a  tall,  raw-boned,  hard-favored  woman,  as  soon  as 
she  saw  me  coming,  stepped  to  the  door  with  a  gun 
in  her  hand,  and  told  me  to  "stand" — and  I  stood! 
A  half-dozen  little  cotton-headed  children,  who  were 
playing  in  the  yard,  discovered  me  at  this  moment, 
and  they  "squandered,"  and  squatted  In  the  bushes 
like  a  gang  of  partridges! 

"Who  are  you?"  asked  Mrs.  Benson,  pointing  her 
gun  right  at  me,  "and  what  do  you  want  here?" 

"I  am  from  the  settlements  below,  ma'am,"  said  I, 
as  polite  as  possible,  but  keeping  a  tree  between  the 


8  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

good  lady  and  myself  all  the  time;  for  women,  you 
know,  are  very  awkward  about  handling  firearms; 
"and,"  I  continued,  "I  want  to  buy  some  vegetables, 
if  you  have  any  to  sell." 

"Well,"  she  answered,  "come  in.  We  hain't  no 
vegetables  left  now,"  she  continued,  as  I  walked  into 
the  cabin  and  took  a  seat  on  a  bench,  "except  cowcum- 
bers  and  mushmillions,  and,  maybe  so,  a  few  'col- 
lards,'  the  dratted  Varmints'  are  so  uncommon  bad 
on  'em ;  but  if  you  want  any  of  them,  you  can  go  in  the 
'truck-patch'  and  help  yourself." 

"You  seem,"  I  ventured  to  remark,  "from  the  way 
you  handled  your  gun,  to  be  a  little  suspicious  of 
strangers  in  these  parts." 

"Yes,"  she  said,  "I  am,  and  good  reason  to  be  so, 
too !  Only  last  Saturday  was  a  week  ago,  some  Tonk 
Ingens,  dressed  up  like  white  folks,  walked  into 
Squire  Henry's  house,  not  more  than  two  miles  from 
here,  and  killed  and  sculped  the  whole  family;  but,  as 
luck  would  have  it,  there  was  nobody  at  home,  except 
the  baby  and  an  old  nigger  woman  that  nussed  it. 
And  which  way  are  you  traveling  to?"  she  asked. 

I  told  her  we  were  going  up  on  the  head-waters  of 
the  Brazos  to  survey  lands. 

"Well,"  says  she,  "you'll  be  luckier  than  'most 
everybody  else  that  has  gone  up  there,  if  you'll  need 
more  than  six  feet  apiece  before  you  get  back.  If  I 
was  your  mammy,  young  man,  you  shouldn't  go  one 
foot  on  sich  a  wild-goose  chase" — and  she  looked  so 
determined,  I  do  believe,  if  she  had  been  my  mammy, 
I  should  never  have  got  nearer  than  "Burnt  Boot"  to 
the  head  of  the  Brazos. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  9 

After  some  further  questioning  on  the  part  of  the 
old  lady,  she  showed  me  the  way  into  the  "truck- 
patch,"  and  filled  my  wallet  with  "mushmillions"  and 
"cowcumbers,"  for  which  I  thanked  her,  as  she  would 
take  no  pay,  and  started  back  to  camp. 

"Good-by,  young  man!"  she  called  after  me;  "I 
feel  mighty  sorry  for  your  poor  mammy,  for  you'll 
never  see  her  again." 

"Well,"  I  answered,  "if  I  don't,  and  you  do,  you 
must  be  sure  and  give  her  my  kindest  regards." 

"You  oudacious  young  scamp,"  she  replied,  "put 
out  from  here  fast.  I'll  insure  you  against  everything 
but  hanging,  which  you  are  certain  to  come  to." 

The  "mushmillions  and  cowcumbers"  were  a  treat 
to  the  boys,  as  well  as  the  account  I  gave  them  of  the 
way  in  which  the  old  lady  had  made  me  dodge  behind 
the  tree,  when  she  levelled  her  gun  at  me.. 

After  dinner  we  mounted  our  horses  again,  and 
leaving  the  last  settlement  behind  us,  we  rode  on  ten 
miles  farther  into  the  "wilderness,"  keeping  a  bright 
lookout  all  the  time  for  "Mr.  John;"  for  we  were 
liable  to  meet  up  with  him,  now,  at  any  moment.  The 
country  was  more  broken  and  rocky  than  any  we  had 
yet  seen.  We  camped  at  the  foot  of  a  high  hill  near 
a  little  spring  of  cold  water.  Our  hunter  killed  an 
antelope  to-day,  on  which  we  made  a  hearty  supper. 
The  flesh  of  the  antelope  is  somewhat  coarser  than 
that  of  the  deer,  but  I  think  sweeter  and  more  juicy. 
They  are  much  shyer  than  deer,  and  it  is  consequently 
more  difficult  to  get  in  gunshot  of  them.  Some  of  the 
boys  found  a  "bee-tree"  just  before  dark,  which  we 
cut  down,  and  got  four  or  ^ve  gallons  of  honey  out  of 
it,  and  from  this  time  the  boys  said  we  shall  have  no 


lO  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

trouble  in  supplying  ourselves  with  honey,  whenever 
we  have  time  to  look  for  the  "trees."  "Bear-meat  and 
honey"  is  the  frontiersman's  choicest  dish  and  I  would 
dislike  to  say  how  much  of  them  I  have  seen  an  old 
ranger  "worry  down,"  after  a  hard  day's  ride,  for 
fear  people  might  think  I  had  no  respect  for  the 
truth;  no  one  but  an  old*  hunter  or  a  starved  wolf 
would  credit  my  story. 

There  is  something  singular  about  the  movements 
of  bees.  They  are  never  found  a  great  way  from  the 
settlements,  but  usually  precede  them  fifty,  sixty,  or  a 
hundred  miles,  so  that  whenever  they  make  their  ap- 
pearance among  the  Indians,  they  know  that  the  white 
people  are  coming  soon — and  yet,  they  do  not  remain 
long  in  their  wild  state  after  the  country  becomes 
thickly  settled.  In  many  places  where  "bee-trees" 
were  numerous  when  I  first  came  to  Texas,  they  arc 
now  soldom  if  ever  found. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

A  Rattlesnake  Bite — Singular  Spring — Wild  Artichokes — 
Indian  Art  Gallery — Wallace's  First  Bear. 

OCTOBER  1 8th.— We  were  up  ''by  times,'^ 
I  and  ready  to  ''roll  out"  at  sunrise.  Saw  some 
Indian  "signs,"  but  they  were  all  old,  except 
one  camp,  which  appeared  to  have  been  recently  occu- 
pied. In  going  through  a  thick  chaparral  to-day,  my 
pony  was  bitten  on  the  leg  by  a  rattlesnake.  An  old 
hunter  told  me  to  chew  up  some  tobacco  and  tie  it  on 
the  wound,  which  I  did,  and,  except  a  slight  swelling, 
no  bad  results  followed  from  the  bite.  (I  have  seen 
tobacco  used  frequently  since  as  a  remedy  for  the  bite 
of  a  rattlesnake,  and  there  is  no  doubt  it  is  a  good  one, 
but  not  equal  to  whisky  or  brandy  taken  in  large  quan- 
tities.) 

Passed  over  a  great  deal  of  broken,  rocky  country 
to-day,  watered  by  little  streams  that  were  as  clear  as 
crystal,  and  filled  with  trout,  perch  and  other  kinds  of 
fish.  We  "nooned"  for  a  couple  of  hours  on  one  of 
these  streams,  in  one  of  the  pools  of  which  we  all  took 
a  refreshing  bath. 

In  the  evening  went  on  perhaps  ten  miles  farther, 
and  pitched  camp  on  one  of  the  head-waters  of  Cow- 
house Creek.  The  country  passed  over  is  very  broken 
and  rocky,  with  occasional  cedar-brakes  and  "mots" 
of  wild  cherry  and  plum  trees. 

We  passed  a  very  remarkable  spring  to-day.  It 
beaks  out  at  the  extreme  point  of  a  high  tongue  of 
land  that  runs  down  into  the  bend  of  a  large  creek. 


12  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

The  water  boils  up  out  of  a  basin  the  size  of  a  hogs- 
head, which,  running  over,  falls  in  a  beautiful  cascade 
into  the  creek  below.  It  looked  more  like  an  artificial 
fountain  than  a  natural  spring.  We  saw  some  fresh 
Indian  signs,  but  no  Indians. 

Our  camp  to-night  is  under  a  large,  projecting  rock, 
and  very  fortunate  for  us  it  was;  for  a  heavy  rain- 
storm came  up  about  12  o'clock,  which  would  have 
"ducked"  us  thoroughly  if  it  had  not  been  for  our 
stone  roof.  As  it  was,  we  slept  dry  and  comfortably, 
notwithstanding  the  heavy  rain  that  fell. 

October  I gth,  Sunday. — Every  little  creek  and  gully 
is  swimming  this  morning,  and,  as  it  is  Sunday,  we 
have  concluded  to  lay  over  a  day  and  rest  ourselves 
and  animals.  After  breakfast,  one  of  the  boys  went 
out  exploring,  and  in  an  hour  or  two  came  back,  bring- 
ing with  him  a  large  quantity  of  a  vegetable  which  he 
called  the  artichoke.  We  cooked  some  for  dinner,  and 
found  them  excellent.  It  is,  I  believe,  a  species  of 
bear-grass ;  at  least,  it  resembles  it  very  much,  except 
that  its  leaves  or  spires  are  notched  like  a  saw.  It 
grows  abundantly  everywhere  in  the  hilly  and  rocky 
country.  The  root  is  the  part  eaten,  and  is  roasted  in 
the  ashes  like  a  potato.  Since  then  I  have  frequently 
lived  solely  on  them  for  days  at  a  time,  when  out  on 
expeditions,  and  I  can  recommend  them  as  a  whole- 
some and  nutritious  vegetable  to  all  "wayworn  wan- 
derers of  the  Western  wilds." 

Near  our  camp  there  is  a  perpendicular  wall  of 
rock,  ten  or  twelve  feet  high,  with  a  smooth,  even 
face,  on  which  the  Indians  have  painted,  with  some 
sort  of  red  earth,  the  likenesses  of  men  and  animals. 
Some  of  the  animals  are  well  drawn,  particularly  a 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 3 

buffalo ;  others  are  imaginary  beings,  unlike  anything 
that  was  ever  seen.  One  picture  represents  a  fight  be- 
tween the  Indians  and  the  whites,  and,  of  course,  the 
Indians  are  giving  the  white  men  a  terrible  flogging. 
One  white  man  is  represented  kneeling  down,  with  his 
hands  lifted  up,  as  if  begging  for  his  life,  while  an 
Indian  warrior  stands  over  him,  with  tomahawk 
raised  above  his  head,  in  the  act  of  dashing  out  the 
poor  fellow's  brains. 

Near  this  place  I  picked  up  some  small  pieces  of 
quartz  rock,  with  shining  particles  scattered  about 
through  them,  which  I  put  in  my  shot-pouch.  I  after- 
ward had  them  examined  at  San  Antonio,  and  the 
shining  particles  were  said  to  be  gold. 

In  the  evening  we  all  went  out  "berrying,"  and 
gathered  quantities  of  haws,  red  and  black,  and  a  sort 
of  berry  that  I  don't  know  the  name  of,  which  grows 
upon  a  little  thorny  shrub,  and  is  very  good  to  eat, 
though  rather  sour. 

The  weather  faired  off  in  the  evening,  and  the  night 
was  clear  and  pleasant.  Slept  again  under  our  "rock 
house." 

October  20th. — We  took  our  course  again,  which 
was  about  due  north,  and,  crossing  a  range  of  moun- 
tains at  a  place  called  "Walker's  Pass,"  we  traveled 
over  a  rough,  broken  country  to  the  South  Leon  creek, 
a  distance,  I  suppose,  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  miles,  where 
we  "nooned."  We  saw  some  fresh  buffalo  signs  on  the 
way,  and  our  old  hunters  began  to  whet  their  bills  for 
fat  steaks,  marrow-bones,  and  "humps;"  but  as  yet 
we  have  seen  none  of  the  animals.  We  found  the 
grass  very  fine  on  the  bottoms  of  this  creek,  and  have 
concluded  to  lay  over  until  to-morrow,  and  give  our 


14  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

horses  a  chance  to  recruit,  as  they  have  had  but  poor 
grazing  for  the  last  forty-eight  hours. 

We  had  been  in  camp  but  a  little  while,  when  one 
of  the  boys  found  a  "bee-tree,"  which  we  cut  down, 
and  took  from  it  at  least  five  gallons  of  honey. 

In  the  evening  I  went  out  hunting,  but  saw  no  game 
to  shoot  at.  On  my  way  back  to  camp  I  stopped  to 
rest  for  a  few  minuets  in  a  little  canon  that  lay  be- 
tween two  rocky  hills,  covered  with  thick  chaparral. 
After  a  while,  my  attention  was  attracted  by  a  noise  in 
the  bushes,  and,  looking  around,  I  saw  a  large  bear 
coming  directly  toward  me.  I  sat  perfectly  still,  and 
he  did  not  notice  me,  but  came  slowly  along,  now  and 
then  stopping  to  turn  over  a  stick  or  a  rock,  in  search, 
I  suppose,  of  insects.  When  within  twenty  feet  of  me, 
I  took  sight  of  his  fore-shoulder  and  fired,  and  he  fell 
dead  in  his  tracks.  This  was  my  first  bear.  He  was 
very  fat,  and  would  have  weighed,  I  suppose,  three 
hundred  pounds.  I  went  back  to  camp,  which  was  not 
more  than  half  a  mile  off,  and,  returning  with  two  of 
the  men  to  assist  me,  we  butchered  him,  and,  packing 
the  meat  on  a  horse,  we  soon  had  some  of  it  roasting 
before  our  fires.  What  a  feast  we  had  that  night  on 
"bear-meat  and  honey !"  If  the  mess  of  pottage  that 
Esau  sold  his  birthright  for,  was  as  good  as  bear-meat 
and  honey,  and  he  had  a  good  appetite,  I  believe  the 
poor  fellow  was  excusable. 

In  the  night  we  saw  a  long  line  of  light  to  the  west- 
ward of  us,  and  supposed  the  Indians  had  fired  the^ 
prairie.  The  night  was  pleasant  and  warm. 


^     <         "    CHAPTER  V. 

Buffalo^-^Pme  Grove  of  Pecan  Trees— The  First  Buffalo— Bit 

by  a  Rcfttlesnake — The  Tarantula — TraveHng  Under 

Difficulties — A  Free  Serenade. 

OCTOBER  2ist.— We  left  camp  after  break- 
I  fast,  taking  what  was  left  of  our  bear-meat 
along  with  us,  and  steered  our  usual  course, 
due  north,  and  about  12  o'clock  we  struck  the  Leon 
River,  opposite  *the  mouth  of  Armstrong's  Creek. 
The  country  passed  over  to-day  was  very  broken,  and 
but  little  land  on  our  route  is  fit  for  cultivation.  We 
saw  a  small  drove  of  buffalo,  but  our  hunters  did  not 
get  a  shot  at  them,  and  the  country  where  we  found 
them  was  so  broken  we  could  not  chase  them  on  horse- 
back. One  of  our  men,  who  had  stopped  behind 
awhile  for  some  purpose,  when  he  came,  up,  reported 
that  he  had  seen  an  Indian  following  on  our  trail;  but 
he  was  a  ''scary"  sort  of  fellow,  and  we  thought  his 
story  very  doubtful. 

We  passed  a  singular  chain  of  high,  bald  hills  to- 
day. Looking  at  them  from  a  distance,  we  almost 
fancied  we  were  approaching  a  considerable  city,  so 
much  did  they  resemble  houses,  steeples,  etc.  They 
were  entirely  destitute  of  timber. 

The  Leon  River,  where  we  struck  it,  is  a  small, 
rapid  stream,  shut  in  on  both  sides  by  high,  rocky 
hills.  We  crossed  over  to  the  northern  side,  and 
"nooned"  in  a  grove  of  pecans.  These  trees  are  full 
of  the  finest  nuts  we  had  ever  seen — very  large,  and 
their  hulls  so  thin  we  could  easily  crack  them  with  our 


1 6  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

fingers.  Before  we  left,  we  gathered  a  wallet-full  of 
them,  and  strapped  it  on  one  of  our  pack  mules. 

In  the  evening,  we  continued  our  route  up  Arm- 
strong's Creek,  and  struck  camp  a  little  after  sundown 
near  one  of  its  head-springs.  The  valley^  along  the 
creek  is  very  beautiful,  and  the  soil  rich.  Our  hunter 
to-day  killed  a  fat  buffalo-cow  on  the  way,  and  we 
butchered  her,  and  packed  the  meat  into  camp.  That 
was  the  first  buffalo-meat  I  ever  tasted,  and  I  thought 
it  better  even  than  bear-meat.  The  flesh  of  an  old  bull, 
however,  I  have  found  out  since,  is  coarse,  tough,  and 
stringy,  but  the  "hump"  is  always  good,  and  so  are  the 
"marrow-bones"  and  tongue. 

Just  after  we  had  encamped,  one  of  our  men  named 
Thompson,  while  staking  out  his  horse,  was  bitten  on 
the  hand  by  a  rattlesnake.  It  was  a  small  one,  how- 
ever, and  he  suffered  but  little  from  the  effects  of  the 
bite.  We  scarified  the  wound  with  a  penknife,  and 
applied  some  soda  to  it,  and  the  next  morning  he  was 
well  enough  to  travel.  I  do  not  think  the  bite  of  the 
rattlesnake  is  as  often  fatal  as  people  generally  sup- 
pose. I  have  seen  several  men  and  a  great  many  ani- 
mals bitten  by  them,  and  have  never  known  death  to 
ensue,  except  on  one  or  two  occasions.  Still,  I  have  no 
doubt  there  is  great  danger,  whenever  the  fangs  of 
the  snake  strike  a  large  vein  or  artery.  I  believe  the 
bite  of  the  tarantula  is  much  more  fatal.  I  have  seen 
two  or  three  persons  bitten  by  them  in  Mexico,  neither 
of  whom  recovered,  although  many  remedies  were 
used.  The  Mexicans  say  they  will  kill  a  horse  in  ten 
n>inutes. 

Night  clear  and  cool — cool  enough  to  make  it  very 
pleasant  to  sleep  by  our  fires.   Toward  midnight  we 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 7 

had  an  alarm  that  aroused  all  hands  very  suddenly. 
The  sentry  on  post  fired  his  gun  off  accidentally,  and 
we  supposed,  of  course,  that  the  Indians  were  upon 
us.  We  were  all  up  and  ready  with  our  guns  by  the 
time  the  sentinel  came  in  and  told  us  it  was  a  false 
alarm.  I  was  so  completely  roused  up  by  the  excite- 
ment and  bustle  that  I  did  not  get  to  sleep  for  more 
than  an  hour  afterward.  The  little  breeze  that  rustled 
among  the  leaves  and  dead  grass  the  early  part  of  the 
night  had  died  away,  and  a  dead  silence  had  settled 
over  all.  Not  a  sound  could  be  heard,  except  the  howl- 
ing of  a  solitary  "cayote"  far  off  among  the  hills,  and 
the  nipping  of  our  animals  as  they  cropped  the  rank 
grass  that  grew  around  us.  The  silence  was  oppres- 
sive, and  when  one  of  the  men  muttered  in  his  sleep,  or 
one  of  our  animals  coughed  or  snorted,  it  was  actually 
a  relief.  I  have  frequently  observed  since,  when 
camping  out  alone  in  the  wilderness,  the  dead  silence 
that  sometimes  prevails  on  a  calm  night.  It  is  not  so 
in  the  "settlements,"  for  there  is  almost  always  some 
sound  to  break  in  upon  it — the  lowing  of  cattle,  the 
tinkling  of  cow-bells,  or  the  barking  of  a  dog. 

October  22d. — ^After  an  early  breakfast,  we  sad- 
dled up  and  traveled  as  fast  as  the  broken  and  rocky 
state  of  the  ground  would  permit.  We  intended  to 
make  a  "forced  march"  to-day,  as  we  expected  by 
night  to  reach  the  locality  where  we  were  to  commence 
our  operations.  Our  horses  had  fared  sumptuously 
the  last  two  nights,  and  were  in  a  condition  to  do  a 
good  day's  work,  but  the  farther  we  went  the  rougher 
and  more  difficult  the  way  became.  Every  now  and 
then  we  would  come  to  a  space  covered  with  "honey- 
comb rock,"  where  we  were  compelled  to  travel  our 


I  8  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

horses  at  the  slowest  gait.  Dense  chaparrals,  too, 
frequently  obstructed  the  way,  and  we  either  had  to 
turn  off  and  avoid  them  altogether,  or  else  hunt  out  a 
route  through  them  along  dim  and  crooked  trails. 
These  causes  delayed  us  so  much  that  by  noon  we  sup- 
posed we  had  only  made  about  fifteen  miles.  We 
halted  for  half  an  hour  at  a  pool  of  brackish  water,  to 
breathe  the  horses.  We  then  continued  on  through 
the  same  sort  of  country,  only  more  rugged  still,  if 
possible,  and  at  sundown  we  found  ourselves  still  half 
a  day's  journey  from  the  Palo  Pinto,  where  we  expect 
to  begin  our  work.  Luckily,  we  found  a  pool  of  muddy 
water,  on  the  edge  of  a  small  prairie,  in  which  there 
was  excellent  grass  for  our  animals,  where  we  un- 
packed and  pitched  camp  for  the  night.  If  the  night 
before  had  been  unusually  still  and  quiet,  this  one  was 
just  the  opposite.  If  two  or  three  ^'menageries"  had 
been  turned  loose  in  the  vicinity  just  before  we  came, 
monkeys  and  all,  there  could  not  have  been  a  greater 
variety  of  sounds.  First,  a  gang  of  wolves  would 
serenade  us  for  a  minute  or  two,  and  then  a  catamount 
would  come  in  on  a  high  key,  and,  before  he  had  fairly 
finished,  a  panther  or  a  "lobo"  would  join  in  the 
chorus ;  and  so  they  kept  it  up  until  the  broad  daylight. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Palo  Pinto  at  Last — The  Camp  in  the  Valley — Wallace's 

Last  Look  at  the  Camp — The  Indians — A  Tight  Race — 

Wallace  Kills  His  First  Indian. 

OCTOBER  23d. — We  traveled,  I  suppose,  fif- 
I  teen  or  sixteen  miles  to-day,  over  a  better  and 
more  open  country,  and  about  noon  struck  a 
branch  of  the  Palo  Pinto  Creek,  on  which  we  intended 
to  begin  our  work  of  locating  and  surveying  land. 

We  passed,  on  the  way,  several  large  Indian  camps, 
but  they  were  all  old.  In  crossing  a  little  sluggish 
stream  of  water  to-day,  one  of  our  pack  animals 
"bogged"  down,  and  it  took  us  a  half  hour's  hard 
work  to  get  him  out  again  on  firm  ground. 

Where  we  struck  the  south  prong  of  the  Palo  Pinto 
we  found  a  little  valley,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by 
high,  rocky  hills,  in  the  southern  extremity  of  which 
we  determined  to  build  a  permanent  camp,  as  a  sort 
of  base  from  which  to  carry  on  our  work.  Game  was 
abundant  in  the  vicinity,  and  the  large  pools  along  the 
creek  were  literally  swarming  with  fish.  We  selected 
a  position  for  our  camp  in  a  bend  of  the  creek,  the 
only  entrance  to  which  was  by  a  narrow  neck  that 
could  easily  be  guarded  and  defended  against  the  ap- 
proach of  an  enemy.  Approach  at  all  other  points  was 
almost  impossible,  on  account  of  the  high  and  perpen- 
dicular banks  of  the  creek. 

In  the  evening  we  hobbled  our  horses  and  all  hands 
went  to  work  to  build  a  camp  that  would  afford  us 
some  protection  in  bad  weather.    By  sundown  we  had 


20  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

it  finished  and  covered  in  with  a  double  layer  of  dry 
grass.  We  then  covered  the  floor  with  a  quantity  of 
the  same,  on  which  we  spread  our  blankets,  and  slept 
like  "tops'^  till  morning. 

October  24th. — It  was  thought  best  that  all  hands 
should  rest  to-day,  after  our  fatiguing  journey;  so  we 
had  nothing  to  do  but  to  amuse  ourselves  as  we  chose. 
Some  "lolled"  about  camp,  passing  the  time  in  eating 
and  sleeping.  Some  rigged  up  their  "tackle"  and  went 
off  fishing;  while  others  gathered  pecans,  of  which 
there  was  an  abundance  in  the  vicinity.  For  my  part, 
I  soon  got  tired  of  all  these  things,  and  determined 
that  I  would  explore  a  little  of  the  country  around  our 
camp.  Taking  my  gun  and  hunting  equipments,  I 
strolled  off  in  the  direction  of  a  pass  that  seemed  to 
penetrate  the  hills  toward  the  northern  extremity  of 
the  valley.  At  the  entrance  of  the  pass,  there  was  a 
solitary  hill,  in  the  shape  of  a  sugar-loaf,  which  I 
climbed  up,  and  from  the  top  of  which  I  had  a  full 
view  of  the  little  valley  in  which  our  camp  lay,  and  of 
the  camp  itself,  about  a  mile  and  a  quarter  off.  I  could 
see  the  smoke  rising  from  it,  and  our  animals  grazing 
around.  Little  did  I  think  this  was  the  last  sight  I 
should  ever  have  of  it ;  but  so  it  was,  for  I  never  saw  it 
again.  I  descended  the  hill,  and  took  my  way  up  the 
pass,  and,  after  following  it  perhaps  half  a  mile,  it 
widened  out  into  a  small  valley,  in  which  there  was  a 
grove  of  pecan  trees,  full  of  the  finest  nuts  I  had  yet 
seen. 

I  gathered  two  or  three  handfuls  of  pecans,  and 
was  sitting  down  at  the  foot  of  one  of  the  trees  crack- 
ing and  eating  them,  when  I  happened  to  look  down 
the  pass  the  way  I  had  come,  and  saw  a  party  of 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  2 1 

twelve  or  fifteen  Indians  riding  up  it  as  fast  as  the 
broken  nature  of  the  ground  would  permit.  I  knew, 
if  I  remained  where  I  was,  that  they  would  certainly 
discover  me,  and  there  was  no  chance  for  me  to  pass 
them  unobserved.  My  only  hope  of  escaping  from 
them  was  in  going  ahead  until  I  came  to  some  canon 
or  ravine  making  into  the  pass,  into  which  I  might 
dodge  and  *'lay  low"  until  they  had  gone  by. 

But  there  was  no  time  to  lose,  so  I  seized  my  gun 
and  put  off  up  the  pass  at  a  brisk  trot.  The  pecan 
grove  concealed  me  for  a  while  from  the  Indians; 
but  the  moment  they  passed  it  they  caught  sight  of  me 
and  came  yelling  and  whooping  after  me  as  fast  as 
they  could  urge  on  their  horses,  for  the  pass  was 
broken  and  seamed  with  deep  gullies,  and  for  half  an 
hour  they  gained  but  little,  if  any,  upon  me. 

All  this  time  I  had  looked  closely  on  both  sides  of 
the  pass  for  some  opening  into  the  hills,  but  could  see 
nothing  of  the  sort :  on  both  sides  there  appeared  to 
be  a  solid  wall  of  rock.  At  length  the  pass  widened 
out  into  a  small  valley  that  was  smooth  and  unbroken, 
and  here  the  race  between  me  and  the  Indians  was  a 
tight  one,  and  a  very  exciting  one  to  me,  for  though  I 
didn't  take  time  to  look  back,  I  could  tell  by  the  sound 
of  their  yells  that  they  were  gaining  on  me. 

At  length,  I  saw  an  opening  in  the  pass  on  the  left, 
and  made  for  it  as  fast  as  I  could,  hoping  it  would  lead 
me  into  some  canon  or  ravine  that  would  be  impass- 
able for  horses,  and  so  it  proved;  for,  after  going  a 
few  hundred  yards,  I  found  great  difficulty  in  getting 
along,  even  on  foot.  The  Indians  were  still  after  me, 
I  knew  from  their  yells,  and  would  probably  dismount 
and  continue  the  chase  on  foot  when  they  could  ride 


22  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

no  farther.  I  had  but  little  fear,  however,  of  their 
overtaking  me,  for,  as  I  have  said  before,  in  those 
days  I  could  run  like  a  scared  wolf  when  I  let  out  the 
kinks. 

The  canon  I  had  entered  twisted  and  turned  about 
among  the  hills  in  such  a  way  that  I  could  not  see  the 
Indians,  but  I  was  satisfied  that  they  were  still  trailing 
me,  even  after  I  could  no  longer  hear  their  yells.  For 
this  reason,  I  never  slackened  my  speed  until  I  had 
penetrated  several  miles  among  the  hills,  when  I 
halted  for  a  few  moments  to  catch  my  breath  at  a 
point  from  which  I  could  see  several  hundred  yards 
down  the  caiion,  in  the  direction  I  had  come.  I  was 
just  on  the  eve  of  getting  up  to  make  a  start  again 
when  an  Indian  came  in  sight,  traveling  along  the  trail 
in  a  sort  of  "dog-trot,"  and  at  a  rate  which  I  knew 
would  bring  him  to  where  I  was  in  a  few  moments. 
The  perseverance  of  this  rascal  in  following  me  up  so 
long,  "stirred  my  gall,"  and  I  resolved  to  make  him 
pay  dearly  for  it,  if  I  could.  Near  where  I  was  resting 
myself,  there  was  a  large  rock,  just  about  high  enough 
to  conceal  a  man  effectually  when  kneeling  down,  and 
behind  that  I  took  my  position,  with  the  muzzle  of  my 
gun  resting  on  its  top. 

The  Indian  came  trotting  along,  totally  unsus- 
picious that  the  "chase"  had  turned  to  bay,  until  he 
was  within  twenty  paces  of  me,  when  I  gave  a  low 
whistle,  and  he  instantly  stopped,  looking  cautiously 
around  at  the  same  time.  I  had  a  dead-rest  for  my  rifle 
and  I  drew  a  bead  about  the  centre  of  his  breast  and 
touched  the  trigger.  At  the  crack  of  the  gun  he  sprang 
into  the  air  and  dropped  dead  in  his  tracks.  That  was 
the  first  Indian  I  ever  killed. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  25 

I  loaded  my  rifle  as  quickly  as  possible,  for  fear 
others  were  close  behind,  and  continued  on  up  the 
ravine.  I  had  gone,  I  suppose,  about  half  a  mile 
farther,  when  I  came  to  another  canon,  coming  in  at 
right  angles  to  the  one  I  was  in,  up  which  I  took  my 

I  way;  for  I  thought,  if  the  Indians  still  continued  the 
pursuit  to  that  point,  they  would  naturally  suppose  I 
had  gone  on  in  the  straight  direction.    I  do  not  know 

I  if  this  "change  of  base"  deceived  them,  or  whether 
they  followed  me  so  far,  but  I  neither  saw  nor  heard 
anything  of  them  afterward. 

I  kept  on  up  this  canon  for  an  hour  after  the  sun 
went  down  and  until  it  grew  so  dark  I  found  there  was 
great  danger  of  breaking  my  neck  by  tumbling  into 
some  of  the  numerous  gulches  that  ran  across  it,  when 
I  turned  aside  into  a  little  nook,  where  I  laid  down 
without  making  any  fire,  and  where  I  intended  to  rest 
myself  until  the  moon  rose,  and  then  proceed  on  my 
way.  But  I  was  so  exhausted  by  the  long  race  I  had 
had  that  I  went  to  sleep,  and  never  woke  up  until  the 
sun  had  fairly  risen,  and  was  shining  above  the  tops 
of  the  hills. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Lost  Among  the  Ravines — A  Lucky  Shot — Comfortable  ., 

Quarters — A  Petrified  Forest — The  Mexican  I 

Gourd — Wallace  Makes  a  Friend. 

OCTOBER  25th. — Here  I  am,  miles  away 
I  from  camp,  and  not  the  slightest  idea  of  the 
direction  I  ought  to  travel  to  reach  it.  Not 
daring  to  go  back  by  the  way  I  had  come,  for  fear  of 
being  waylaid  by  the  Indians,  who,  I  was  satisfied, 
would  make  every  effort  to  capture  me,  after  they 
found  out  I  had  killed  one  of  their  party,  I  scarcely 
knew  which  way  to  turn. 

(At  that  time,  you  must  remember,  I  was  as  "green 
as  a  cut-seed  watermelon,"  and  had  no  knowledge  of 
the  woods,  and  knew  not  how  to  steer  my  course 
through  them.  Under  the  same  circumstances  now,  I 
should  be  as  much  at  home  as  I  would  be  here  in  my 
little  ranch. ) 

I  had  not  a  mouthful  to  eat,  nor  had  I  drank  a  drop 
of  water  since  the  day  before,  and  I  was  suffering  ex- 
ceedingly from  thirst.  Upon  investigating  the  extent 
of  my  wordly  goods  and  chattels,  I  found  they  con- 
sisted of  the  clothes  I  had  on,  my  rifle,  shot-pouch,  a 
steel  for  striking  fire,  a  butcher-knife,  powder-horn 
(filled  with  powder),  and  a  memorandum-book  and 
pencil. 

Before  I  left  my  hiding-place,  I  reconnoitred  the 
pass  cautiously,  and  seeing  nothing  suspicious,  I 
started  off  in  the  direction  I  supposed  our  camp  to  be. 
I  was  suffering  very  much  from  thirst,  and  when  I  had 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  27 

gone  a  few  hundred  yards,  I  thought  myself  fortunate 
in  finding  a  little  pool  of  rain-water  in  the  hollow  of  a 
rock.  It  was  clear  and  cool,  and  I  took  a  hearty  drink 
of  it,  which  refreshed  me  exceedingly,  and  gave  me 
new  life  and  strength. 

The  whole  of  the  country  I  traveled  over  was  a 
succession  of  rugged,  rocky  hills,  separated  from  each 
other  by  narrow  gulches  and  canons,  and  almost  im- 
passable even  for  a  man  on  foot. 

About  12  o'clock,  tired  out  and  very  hungry,  I 
stopped  in  one  of  these  canons  to  rest  myself  by  the 
side  of  a  small  creek  that  ran  briskly  for  a  few  steps, 
and  then  disappeared  in  the  sand.  I  had  been  there 
but  a  little  while  when  a  large  buck  came  down  to  the 
creek  to  drink,  within  twenty  yards  of  where  I  was 
sitting.  I  raised  my  rifle  cautiously  and  fired  at  him. 
He  ran  off  a  short  distance,  as  if  he  wasn't  hurt  at  all, 
when  he  stopped  and  began  to  reel  from  side  to  side, 
and  in  a  moment  or  so  dropped  down  dead.  I  dragged 
him  to  the  bank  of  the  creek,  where  I  skinned  and  cut 
him  up,  and  in  a  little  while  had  a  side  of  his  ribs 
roasting  before  a  fire.  He  was  one  of  the  fattest  deerj 
I  ever  saw,  and  as  I  thought  it  very  uncertain  when  I 
would  reach  camp,  I  concluded  it  would  be  good 
policy  to  remain  where  I  was  the  balance  of  the  day, 
and  jerk  up  as  much  of  the  flesh  as  I  could  conven- 
iently carry.  So,  after  I  had  made  a  hearty  dinner  on 
my  roasted  ribs,  I  went  to  work  and  cut  up  a  quantity 
of  the  meat  into  thin  slices,  which  I  placed  on  a  low 
scaffold  made  of  little  poles,  and  then  built  a  fire  under 
them,  and  before  sundown  I  had  enough  meat  nicely 
"jerked"  to  last  me  for  several  days.  I  then  looked 
around  for  secure  quarters  for  the  night,  and  a  few 


28  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

yards  below  where  I  had  butchered  the  deer,  I  found 
a  shallow  cave  in  a  cliff,  into  which  I  carried  my  dried 
venison  and  some  dry  grass  for  a  bed.  I  was  very 
lucky  in  finding  this  cave,  for  that  night  a  torrent  of 
rain  fell,  which  would  have  made  camping  out  of 
doors  extremely  unpleasant,  especially  as  it  was  ac- 
companied by  a  strong  and  chilly  wind ;  but  as  it  was 
I  slept  as  "snug  as  a  bug  in  a  rug,"  and  didn't  mind  the 
howling  of  the  wind  any  more  than  that  of  the  wolves, 
who  were  holding  a  "jubilee"  over  the  remains  of  the 
deer  I  had  killed. 

October  26. — When  I  awoke  in  the  morning,  it  was 
broad  daylight.  The  rain  had  ceased,  but  it  was  still 
cloudy  and  misty,  and  I  couldn't  see  the  sun,  which 
was  the  only  guide  I  had  to  indicate  the  direction  I 
ought  to  go. 

With  the  experience  I  now  have,  I  could  have  pur- 
sued my  course  with  as  perfect  a  certainty  as  if  the 
sun  had  been  visible,  for  I  can  tell  the  points  of  the 
compass  very  nearly  at  all  times,  by  the  bark  on  the 
trees,  which  is  generally  thicker  on  the  north  side,  and 
by  the  moss  growing  upon  them,  or  by  sticking  a  pin 
perpendicularly  into  a  piece  of  white  cloth  or  paper. 
In  the  cloudiest  day,  the  pin  will  cast  a  dim  shadow 
opposite  the  sun,  and  thus  point  out  its  position.  But, 
you  see,  at  that  time  I  was  ignorant  of  all  these  things, 
and  had  to  steer  my  course  by  guess,  when  the  sun 
could  not  be  seen ;  and,  unfortunately  for  me,  a  spell 
of  misty  weather  had  set  in,  that  lasted  for  more  than 
a  week. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  29 

However,  when  I  had  made  a  breakfast  off  of  my 
venison,  and  taken  a  drink  of  water  from  the  creek,  I 
packed  up  my  jerked  meat,  tying  it  firmly  together 
with  thongs  of  bear-grass,  and  set  out  again  in  the 
direction  I  supposed  the  camp  to  be.  The  country  con- 
tinued exceedingly  rough  and  broken,  and  I  was  fre- 
quently headed  off  by  impassable  gulches  and  canons, 
that  I  could  only  avoid  sometimes  by  going  a  long 
distance  out  of  my  course. 

Toward  noon,  I  came  to  a  little  valley,  in  which 
there  was  a  beautiful  bold  spring  bursting  out  from 
the  foot  of  the  hills,  and  around  it  four  or  five  large 
pecan  trees,  filled  with  fruit.  Here  I  rested  for  an 
hour  or  so,  and  made  a  hearty  dinner  on  venison  and 
.  pecans,  the  pecans  answering  pretty  well  in  the  place 
I  of  bread.  In  the  bed  of  the  little  creek  formed  by  this 
'  spring  I  picked  up  some  curious-looking  pebbles, 
about  the  size  of  buckshot,  and  put  them  in  my  shot- 
pouch.  They  proved  to  be  "garnets,"  and  I  have  no 
doubt  that  a  quantity  of  them  might  be  collected  in 
that  locality;  but  I  am  told  they  are  not  a  very  valu- 
able stone.  I  have  found  them  in  several  other  places 
in  Texas;  and  at  one  point  on  the  road  from  San 
Antonio  to  El  Paso,  I  found  a  number  of  rubies,  but 
I  was  ignorant  of  their  value  at  the  time,  and  only 
picked  up  two  or  three  as  curiosities. 

Near  the  spring  where  I  had  stopped  there  was  a 

petrified  forest.    The  trees  were  all  lying  upon  the 

[I      ground,  as  if  they  had  been  blown  down  by  a  heavy 

wind,  but  in  some  instances  they  were  nearly  whole,. 

even  the  small  twigs  and  branches  being  petrified. 

Toward  evening  I  continued  my  route,  and  never 
stopped  for  a  moment  until  the  sun  was  about  setting, 


30  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

when  I  began  to  look  out  for  a  convenient  place  for 
camping.  I  had  already  passed  several  deep  gulches 
or  hollows,  in  which  I  expected  to  find  water,  but  they 
were  all  dry.  I  went  on  until  it  grew  so  dark  it  was 
with  great  difficulty  I  made  any  headway  at  all,  and 
at  last  I  was  compelled  to  stop  without  finding  water. 
Although  pretty  hungry,  I  did  not  venture  on  my 
dried  venison,  for  fear  of  increasing  my  thirst,  and, 
having  started  a  small  fire,  I  lay  down  under  a  spread- 
ing live-oak,  and  soon  forgot  all  my  troubles  in  a 
sound  sleep. 

October.  2'jth. — I  woke  just  at  daylight.  The  morn- 
ing was  cloudy  and  still,  and  the  first  thing  I  noticed 
was  a  pattering  sound,  as  if  made  by  a  small  stream 
of  water  falling  from  a  precipice.  I  got  up  and  went 
in  the  direction  of  the  sound,  and  in  forty  or  fifty 
yards  from  where  I  had  slept  I  came  to  one  of  the 
finest  springs  I  had  ever  seen.  It  broke  out  at  the  foot 
of  a  huge  cliff,  in  a  stream  as  large  as  my  body,  and, 
after  running  a  little  way  it  fell  fifteen  or  twenty  feet 
into  the  bottom  of  the  ravine  below,  forming  a  beau- 
tiful cascade.  Where  the  stream  came  out  at  the  foot 
of  the  cliff,  there  was  a  deep  pool  of  clear,  cold  water, 
out  of  which  I  took  a  hearty  drink;  and  after  I  had 
bathed  my  face  and  hands,  I  built  up  a  small  fire,  and 
roasted  some  of  my  venison,  and  though  I  had  neither 
bread,  nor  salt,  nor  coffee,  I  made  a  satisfactory 
breakfast  upon  it,  with  a  few  of  my  pecans. 

There  were  one  or  two  Indian  camps  near  this 
spring,  but  they  did  not  seem  to  have  been  occupied 
for  some  time.  In  one  of  them  I  picked  up  a  Mexi- 
can gourd  that  would  hold  about  two  quarts  of  water, 
which  the  Indians  had  evidently  forgotten  when  they 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  3  I 

left.  To  my  great  joy,  I  found,  on  examining  it,  that 
it  was  not  broken  or  cracked  in  any  way.  I  had  suf- 
fered a  good  deal  for  the  want  of  something  in  which 
to  carry  a  supply  of  water  along  with  me,  and  I  looked 
upon  this  gourd  as  a  valuable  addition  to  my  worldly 
effects.  I  fastened  a  band  of  bear-grass  around  it,  so 
that  I  could  carry  it  conveniently  when  travelling. 

And  here,  most  unexpectedly,  I  met  up  with  a  com- 
panion that  was  never  separated  from  me  afterward, 
(except  on  one  occasion  for  a  few  days,)  during  all 
my  wanderings.  While  I  was  sitting  down  eating  my 
breakfast,  I  saw  some  animal  poke  his  head  out  of  a 
hollow  in  a  rock,  a  few  feet  distant,  and  gaze  at  me, 
apparently  with  considerable  curiosity.  At  first  I  took 
it  to  be  a  wolf,  but,  upon  closer  inspection,  I  saw  that 
it  was  a  dog,  and  I  whistled  and  snapped  my  fingers 
at  him  to  coax  him  out  of  his  den.  For  a  while  he  paid 
no  attention  to  this,  but  at  length  he  ventured  out,  at- 
tracted more,  I  think,  by  the  smell  of  roasted  meat 
than  by  the  signs  I  made  him.  He  approached  me  very 
cautiously,  however,  frequently  stopping  and  looking 
back  at  his  den;  but  he  finally  came  up  to  me,  and 
I  gave  him  a  piece  of  venison,  which  he  eagerly  de- 
voured. He  was  the  most  wretched  specimen  of  a  dog 
I  had  ever  seen.  Both  of  his  ears  were  cut  off  close  to 
his  head,  and  he  had  been  starved  to  such  a  degree 
that  he  looked  for  all  the  world  like  a  pile  of  bones 
loosely  packed  in  a  sack  of  hair  and  hide.  He  was  too 
weak  to  hold  his  tail  up,  which  dragged  upon  the 
ground  like  a  wolf's.  I  suppose  he  had  been  left  be- 
hind by  the  party  of  Indians  whose  camp  I  had  seen 
near  the  spring.  I  gave  him  as  much  venison  as  I 
thought  he  ought  to  eat  at  one  time,  which  he  swal- 


32  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

lowed  so  greedily  that  he  choked  himself  several 
times.  I  named  him  "Comanche"  on  the  spot,  and  we 
were  soon  upon  the  most  friendly  terms. 

Comanche's  company,  ugly  and  wolfish  as  he 
looked,  was  very  acceptable  to  me,  and  relieved  me, 
to  some  extent,  from  that  feeling  of  loneliness  usually 
experienced  by  one  like  myself,  unaccustomed  to  the 
solitude  of  the  wilderness.  I  believe  the  company  of 
a  dog,  next  to  that  of  a  man,  and  more  than  that  of 
any  other  animal,  seems  to  satisfy  that  longing  for 
companionship  we  feel  when  curcumstanced  as  I  was 
then. 

After  breakfast,  I  filled  up  my  gourd  with  water 
from  the  spring,  and  took  my  way  again  across 
the  hills,  Comanche  following  at  my  heels.  By  this 
time,  the  breakfast  of  venison  I  had  given  him  had 
improved  him  amazingly,  and  his  tail  began  to  curl  in 
its  usual  style. 

To-day  I  passed  over  the  roughest  and  most  deso- 
late-looking country  I  had  seen  yet — rocky  hills,  some 
of  which  were  entirely  bare  of  all  vegetation,  and 
others  covered  with  dense  chaparral  and  thorny 
bushes,  through  which  I  sometimes  found  it  almost 
impossible  to  force  my  way.  Game  of  all  sorts  seemed 
to  be  exceedingly  scarce  here,  for  except  two  or  three 
antelopes  I  saw  no  animals  on  my  route ;  but  rattle- 
snakes were  more  numerous  than  I  ever  saw  them 
elsewhere.  I  stirred  them  up  every  few  yards  as  I 
walked. 

My  gourd  proved  very  serviceable  to-day,  for  I 
did  not  see  a  drop  of  water,  after  leaving  the  spring, 
until  night,  and  we  would  have  suffered  without  it. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  33 

Ever  since  I  had  left  the  pass  where  the  Indians 
gave  me  the  run,  I  had  scarcely  had  a  glimpse  of  the 
sun,  for  it  had  been  misty  and  cloudy  all  the  time,  but 
to-day  it  shone  out  for  a  little  while,  and,  to  my  great 
disappointment,  I  found  I  had  been  traveling  nearly 
due  north,  instead  of  south,  which  was  the  direction  I 
ought  to  have  taken.  This  was  exceedingly  vexatious, 
and  from  that  time  I  abandoned  all  hope  of  finding 
the  surveyors'  camp.  However,  I  did  n't  despair  of 
making  my  way  back  into  the  settlements  in  the  course 
of  time,  provided  the  Indians,  or  the  snakes,  or  the 
"varmints"  didn't  get  me  on  the  route.  I  immediately 
changed  my  course,  steering  due  south  instead  of 
north,  passing  over  a  desolate  and  barren  tract  of 
country. 

Toward  sundown,  I  came  to  the  top  of  a  high  ridge, 
at  the  foot  of  which  there  lay  a  little  grassy  valley, 
surrounded  on  all  sides  by  steep  rocky  hills  similar  to 
the  one  on  which  I  stood.  I  descended  into  this  little 
valley  just  as  the  sun  was  setting,  and,  to  my  great 
joy,  nearly  the  first  thing  I  saw  after  entering  it  was 
a  fine  spring  of  water,  breaking  out  from  the  foot  of 
the  hill  I  had  just  scrambled  down. 

Near  this  spring,  in  a  ledge  of  rocks,  I  found  a  sort 
of  shallow  cave,  walled  up  in  front  with  loose  stones, 
through  which  there  was  a  narrow  entrance.  Inside 
there  was  a  comfortable  little  room  about  twelve  feet 
square,  perfectly  protected  from  the  weather,  and 
with  a  smooth,  dry  rock  floor.  It  had  evidently  been 
built  and  used  by  the  Indians  long  ago;  but  there  was 
nothing  about  it  to  indicate  that  they  had  occupied  it 
for  years. 


34  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

After  supper,  I  cut  a  few  armfuls  of  dry  grass, 
which  I  carried  into  the  cave,  and  with  which  I  made 
a  soft  bed  on  the  floor  for  myself,  and  another  for 
Comanche  near  the  entrance,  and  we  slept  soundly 
till  morning. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

My  Little  Valley— A  Sad  Accident— Wild  Turkeys— On 
Crutches — On  the  Tramp  Again — A  Last  Look. 

OCTOBER  28th.— I  was  up  by  daylight  this 
I  morning,  and  ready  to  start  in  half  an  hour, 
for  it  took  me  but  a  little  while  to  cook  and 
eat  my  breakfast,  and  clear  away  the  dishes. 

As  I  passed  through  the  little  valley,  I  could  not 
but  admire  its  seclusion  and  beauty.  It  was  shut  in  on 
all  sides  by  high  hills,  covered  with  cedars  and  other 
evergreens.  I  suppose  it  was  about  half  a  mile  long 
by  a  quarter  in  breadth,  and  a  clear,  rapid  little 
stream  ran  through  the  centre  of  it.  Scattered  over  it 
were  many  beautiful  clumps  of  live-oaks,  pecans,  and 
other  trees.  I  saw  several  flocks  of  deer  grazing 
among  the  trees,  and  a  great  many  wild  turkeys,  but 
I  did  not  try  to  shoot  any,  as  I  had  some  of  my  jerked 
venison  left,  and  did  not  want  to  waste  my  ammuni- 
tion. I  had  passed  through  the  centre  of  the  valley, 
and  was  in  the  act  of  climbing  up  the  hill  on  the  oppo- 
site side,  when  my  foot  slipped  on  a  loose  stone,  and 
sprained  my  ankle  badly.  I  attempted  to  go  on,  but 
the  pain  was  so  great,  whenever  I  put  my  foot  on  the 
ground,  that  I  found  it  impossible  to  do  so. 

Here  was  a  pretty  fix.  As  the  backwoodsman  said, 
when  the  Indians  attacked  his  house  just  as  he  had 
filled  his  gun  with  water  to  swab  it  out,  '*It  was  very 
ridiculous."  But  I  saw  there  was  no  alternative  but 
to  stop  and  remain  patiently  where  I  was  until  my 
ankle  got  well  enough  to  enable  me  to  travel  again ; 


36  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

SO  I  hobbled  back  with  great  pain  and  difficulty  to  the 
little  cave  on  the  side  of  the  valley  I  had  started  from. 

By  the  time  I  reached  the  cave,  I  was  suffering  very 
much,  and  my  ankle  had  swollen  out  of  all  shape.  I 
pulled  off  my  shoe,  and  bathed  my  foot  for  half  an 
hour  in  the  cold  spring-water,  and  the  pain  left  me 
in  a  great  measure.  However,  I  knew  it  would  be 
days,  perhaps  weeks,  before  my  ankle  would  be  well 
enough  for  me  to  continue  my  journey,  and  knew  not 
how  to  subsist  in  the  mean  time,  without  being  able  to 
hunt  for  game.  This  thought  was  anything  but  agree- 
able, and  I  felt  rather  despondent  that  night  as  I  lay 
down  upon  my  bed  in  the  little  cave.  I  thought, 
though,  after  all,  I  had  much  to  be  thankful  for;  for, 
if  this  accident  had  happened  to  me  anywhere  in  the 
barren  and  desolate  country  I  had  lately  travelled 
over,  where  there  was  neither  water  to  be  had  nor 
game  to  be  found,  how  much  more  hopeless  and  mis- 
erable my  condition  would  have  been.  So  I  made  my- 
self as  contented  as  I  could,  and  was  soon  fast  asleep. 

October  2gth. — I  awoke  about  daylight,  and  the 
first  thing  I  heard  was  a  gang  of  wild  turkeys  clucking 
in  the  pecan-trees  that  grew  a  few  steps  from  my 
cave.  I  seized  my  gun  and  crawled  to  the  door.  The 
trees  were  crowded  with  them,  and  selecting  one  of 
the  largest  gobblers,  I  fired  at  him,  and  he  tumbled  to 
the  ground.  "Comanche"  seemed  to  understand 
thoroughly  what  was  up,  for  as  soon  as  the  turkey 
struck  the  earth,  he  pounced  upon  it,  and  dragged  it 
up  to  the  mouth  of  my  cave,  where  I  picked  and 
cleaned  him  nicely,  and  soon  had  him  spitted  before 
my  fire,  and  in  a  couple  of  hours  he  was  done  to  a  turn. 

After  breakfast,  being  uncertain  as  to  the  length 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  37 

of  time  I  should  be  compelled  to  remain  here,  I  took 
another  ''account  of  stock"  on  hand,  and  found  that 
I  was  the  fortunate  owner  of  the  following  property, 
viz. :  one  rifle  in  good  condition ;  one  shot-pouch,  and 
powder-horn  filled  with  powder;  one  butcher-knife; 
twenty-six  bullets;  steel  for  striking  fire;  one  Mex- 
ican gourd;  one  memorandum-book  and  pencil;  two 
plugs  of  tobacco,  and  a  pipe.  Pretty  "well  to  do," 
thinks  I  to  myself,  considering  the  "tightness  of  the 
times."  I  found  it  impossible  to  put  my  lame  foot  to 
the  ground  at  all,  without  suffering  great  pain,  so  I 
concluded  I  would  try  and  make  a  sort  of  crutch,  that 
would  enable  me  to  hobble  about  on  my  sound  foot. 
So  I  crawled  out  to  where  there  was  a  bunch  of  young 
saplings  growing,  and,  with  much  labor,  at  length 
cut  down  a  forked  one  with  my  butcher-knife, 
which  I  thought  would  answer  my  purpose.  By  night 
I  had  it  finished,  and,  on  trial,  I  found  that  I  could 
get  along  with  it,  after  a  fashion,  on  level  ground. 
I  have  not  much  fear  of  starving  now,  for  with  my 
crutch  I  can  follow  any  game  that  may  come  into  the 
valley. 

After  night,  a  heavy  rain  came  up  from  the  north, 
accompanied  by  much  thunder  and  lightning.  The  rain 
never  ceased  falling  till  near  daylight,  but  my  cave 
did  not  leak  a  drop,  and  the  wall  in  front  prevented 
the  wind  from  driving  it  in  on  me. 

From  this  time,  as  long  as  I  stayed  in  the  valley, 
which  was  until  the  20th  of  November,  nothing  of 
importance  occurred,  and  as  one  day  was  pretty  much 
like  another,  I  made  but  few  notes  in  my  memoran- 
dum book,  only  enough  to  keep  from  losing  the  day 
of  the  month.    On  the  2d  of  November,  "I  killed  a 


38  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

deer;"  on  the  5th,  "gathered  about  a  bushel  of  pe- 
cans;'* on  the  7th,  "killed  another  deer;"  on  the  loth, 
"my  ankle  improved  so  much  I  can  walk  a  little  with- 
out my  crutch,"  etc. 

I  never  suffered  a  moment  for  food  the  whole  time 
I  was  in  the  valley,  for  I  could  kill  a  deer  or  turkey 
whenever  I  wanted  one,  and  could  gather,  with  but 
little  trouble,  an  abundance  of  pecans,  and  various 
kinds  of  haws  and  berries.  It  was  truly  lucky  for  me 
that  the  accident  happened  to  me  at  this  place.  Had 
it  occurred  at  almost  any  other  on  my  route,  the  prob- 
ability is  I  should  have  starved  to  death,  in  my  help- 
less condition. 

The  day  before  I  left  the  valley,  I  jerked  up  as 
much  venison  as  I  could  conveniently  carry  along  with 
me,  and,  on  the  morning  of  the  20th  of  November, 
I  bade  farewell  to  my  little  cave.  Before  leaving,  I 
carved  my  name  on  a  rock  in  front  of  my  old  quarters 
with  my  butcher-knife,  together  with  the  day  of  the 
month  and  year.  I  felt  right  sorry  to  leave  my  little 
valley,  where  I  had  passed  so  many  peaceful,  quiet 
days.  My  ankle  had  got  entirely  well,  and,  shoulder- 
ing my  rifle  and  pack  of  provisions,  and,  with  "Co- 
manche" following  at  my  heels,  I  started  off  across 
the  valley  in  a  southern  direction.  "Comanche"  had 
lived  on  the  "fat  of  the  land"  since  he  had  fallen  in 
with  me,  and  was  now  quite  a  respectable-looking 
dog,  and  his  tail  had  a  fierce  and  defiant  curl. 

The  sun  shone  brightly,  and  I  had  no  difficulty  in 
keeping  the  course  I  wanted  to  go.  When  I  had 
ascended  to  the  top  of  the  opposite  ridge  of  hills,  I 
turned  to  take  a  last  look  at  my  little  valley.  I  could 
see  the  entrance  of  my  cave,  the  grove  of  pecans  in 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  39 

front  of  it,  and  the  smoke  still  curling  upward  from 
the  fire  I  had  left  burning. 

The  settlements  have  now  extended  beyond  this 
point,  and  probably  by  this  time  some  advocate  of 
"squatter  sovereignty"  has  taken  possession  of  it; 
but  when  I  was  there,  there  was  not  a  log  cabin,  I 
suppose,  within  a  hundred  miles  of  it. 

I  travelled  about  ten  miles  this  morning,  over  a 
very  rough  and  rugged  country,  covered  with  thick 
chaparral,  when  I  halted  to  rest  for  an  hour  or  so. 
There  was  no  water  near,  but  I  had  a  supply  along 
with  me  in  my  Mexican  gourd,  which  I  had  filled  from 
the  spring  before  leaving. 

After  Comanche  and  I  had  eaten  a  bite,  and  rested 
ourselves  sufficiently,  I  continued  my  route  over  the 
same  sort  of  country  till  near  night,  when  I  encamped 
on  the  banks  of  a  considerable  creek — one  of  the  head 
branches,  I  have  supposed  since,  of  the  Palo  Pinto.  A 
small  gang  of  buffalo  were  grazing  in  the  creek  velley, 
but  they  discovered  me  and  ran  off  before  I  could  get 
a  shot  at  them.  I,  however,  killed  a  fat  doe  after  I  had 
struck  camp,  which  furnished  me  with  an  abundance 
of  fresh  meat.  I  also  found  some  of  the  "wild  arti- 
choke" growing  near,  which  afforded  an  agreeable 
addition  to  my  usual  bill  of  fare. 

I  saw  fresh  Indian  "signs"  near  my  camp,  which 
caused  me  some  uneasiness,  and  I  kept  a  good  look- 
out for  them.  Comanche  woke  me  several  times 
during  the  night  with  his  growling,  but  I  supposed 
there  was  nothing  more  dangerous  about  than  a  cayote 
or  catamount,  attracted  to  the  camp  by  the  smell  of 
fresh  meat. 


CHAPTER  IX 

Gold — Indian  Smokes — Comanche  Uneasy — Captured  by  the 
Indians — Mysterious  Movements — The  Old  Squaw — 

What  Next? 

NOVEMBER  2ist.— Clear  and  cold.  After 
breakfast  I  crossed  the  creek  and  went  on 
five  or  six  miles,  through  the  most  singular- 
looking  country  I  ever  saw.  At  a  little  distance,  a 
person  would  have  supposed  on  approaching  it  that 
it  was  a  level  plain,  but  on  nearer  inspection,  though 
there  were  no  hills  or  elevations  of  any  size  in  it,  he 
would  have  found  the  whole  surface  broken  and  rup- 
tured as  if  by  an  earthquake,  and  seamed  with  deep 
gulches  and  canons  that  interlaced  and  crossed  each 
other  at  all  sorts  of  angles.  I  had  more  difficulty  in 
making  my  way  over  these  five  or  six  miles  than  I 
ever  had  experienced  elsewhere  in  the  same  distance. 
I  noticed  in  the  bottoms  of  many  of  these  gulches  a 
great  deal  of  quartz  rock  and  black  sand,  which  I  had 
been  told  indicated  the  presence  of  gold,  and  I  deter- 
mined, from  mere  curiosity,  that  I  would  ''prospect" 
a  little  in  one  of  the  gulches,  and  see  if  I  could  not 
find  some  of  the  precious  metal  itself.  I  followed 
one  of  them  down  several  hundred  yards,  and 
amongst  a  pile  of  broken  rocks  and  gravel,  thrown 
together  by  the  violence  of  the  torrent  that  rushed 
along  the  bed  of  the  gulch  in  rainy  weather,  I  picked 
up  three  pieces  of  pure  gold,  the  largest  of  which 
weighed  nearly  a  quarter  of  an  ounce. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  4 1 

I  have  often  thought  since  that,  some  time  or  other, 
I  would  return  to  that  place  and  ''prospect"  it  thor- 
oughly, but  something  has  always  prevented  me  from 
doing  so.  However,  I  am  determined,  just  as  soon  as 
I  can,  that  I  will  explore  that  region  of  country.  I  can 
find  it  again  readily,  I  know,  and  I  feel  confident,  from 
the  little  examination  I  made  when  there,  that  gold 
exists  there  in  abundance. 

After  leaving  this  locality,  I  struck  a  fine  open 
prairie  country,  through  which  I  travelled  without 
difficulty  for  twelve  or  fifteen  miles,  when  I  came  to 
a  heavily  timbered  bottom  on  a  considerable  stream, 
which  I  have  since  supposed  was  the  Leon. 

I  saw  half  a  dozen  "Indian  smokes"  on  the  way, 
and  once  I  crossed  a  considerable  trail,  which  was 
quite  fresh.  I  pitched  camp  on  the  edge  of  the  bottom, 
under  the  shelter  of  a  spreading  live-oak.  After  dark, 
Comanche  appeared  to  be  very  uneasy  and  watchful. 
He  woke  me  several  times  during  the  night,  snuffling 
and  growling,  but  I  paid  no  particular  attention  to  his 
movements,  supposing  his  watchfulness  was  owing  to 
the  presence  of  wolves  or  other  animals  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  camp. 

About  daylight,  I  was  suddenly  roused  by  his  furi- 
ous barking,  and  looking  up,  I  was  horrified  to  see  a 
dozen  Indians  coming  rapidly  toward  me,  and  not 
more  than  forty  or  fifty  yards  distant.  I  always  slept 
with  my  gun  by  my  side,  and  I  seized  it  instantly,  and 
sprang  behind  the  tree  under  which  I  had  been  sleep- 
ing. As  I  did  so,  I  saw  that  I  was  completely  sur- 
rounded by  Indians,  and  that  there  was  no  chance  of 
making  my  escape.  I  resolved,  however,  to  sell  my 
life  as  dearly  as  I  could,  and  as  the  circle  of  warriors 


42  THE  ADVENTURES  OF  * 

drew  closer  and  closer  In  upon  me,  I  kept  dodging  j 
from  one  side  of  the  tree  to  the  other,  keeping  my  ' 
gun  pointed  all  the  time  towards  those  that  were 
nearest  to  me.  Presently  one  of  the  Indians,  who 
I  supposed  was  chief,  said  something  In  a  loud 
voice,  to  the  balance,  and  they  all  halted.  He  then  \ 
advanced  a  few  steps  toward  me,  and  asked,  in  the 
Mexican  language,  "who  I  was,  and  what  I  was 
doing  there?'''  I  had  picked  up  a  smattering  of 
Mexican  after  I  came  out  of  Texas,  and  by  signs 
and  such  phrases  as  I  knew,  I  told  him  I  was  an 
American,  that  I  had  got  lost  from  my  party,  and 
was  on  my  way  back  to  the  "settlements."  He  then 
made  signs  to  me  to  put  down  my  gun,  which  I  did, 
for  I  saw  plainly  that  resistance  was  hopeless  against 
such  numbers,  and  I  thought  if  I  surrendered  it  was 
possible  they  might  spare  my  life.  As  soon  as  I  laid 
my  gun  upon  the  ground,  the  chief  came  up  and  took 
possession  of  it,  and  then  calling  to  the  rest,  they  all 
advanced,  and  one  of  them  seized  my  hands  and 
bound  them  firmly  with  deer  thongs  behind  my  back. 
Bitterly  did  I  regret  that  I  had  not  fought  it  out 
with  them  to  the  last,  instead  of  surrendering,  but  it 
was  then  too  late  to  repent,  and  I  made  up  my  mind 
to  meet  my  fate,  whatever  it  might  be,  with  as  much 
courage  as  I  could  "screw  up"  for  the  occasion. 
Comanche,  however,  with  less  discretion  than  valor, 
"pitched  into"  the  whole  crowd  while  they  were  tying 
my  hands,  and  it  was  only  after  they  had  kicked  him 
and  beaten  him  severely  with  their  spear-handles,  that 
he  gave  up  the  contest  and  retired  to  a  safe  distance 
in  the  rear. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  43 

As  soon  as  my  hands  were  tied,  the  chief  ordered 
one  of  the  Indians  to  pick  up  my  shot-pouch  and  other 
equipments,  and  we  all  started  off  at  a  brisk  walk  up 
the  river,  keeping  a  little  trail  just  outside  of  the 
timbered  bottom. 

We  had  travelled  in  this  way,  I  suppose,  four  or 
five  miles,  when  the  Indians  gave  three  or  four  loud 
whoops,  which  were  answered  by  similar  whoops 
apparently  about  half  a  mile  ahead,  and  in  a  little 
while  we  came  in  sight  of  the  lodges  of  a  large  en- 
campment. When  within  a  short  distance  of  the  en- 
campment, a  mixed  crowd  of  old  men,  women,  and 
boys  came  out  to  meet  us,  who  soon  surrounded  me 
in  a  dense  mass,  screaming,  yelling  and  hooting,  and 
calling  me,  I  suppose,  all  sorts  of  hard  names,  but  of 
course  I  couldn't  understand  their  "lingo."  I  was  glad 
when  my  guard  took  me  away  from  them  and  carried 
me  into  one  of  the  lodges,  where  they  untied  my  hands 
and  made  signs  for  me  to  sit  down. 

I  took  a  seat  on  one  of  the  skins  scattered  over  the 
floor,  in  no  very  pleasant  frame  of  mind,  as  you  may 
well  imagine,  for  I  was  pretty  well  satisfied,  from  the 
manner  in  which  I  had  been  treated  by  the  Indians 
since  they  captured  me,  that  they  intended  to  put  mc 
to  death.  In  a  little  while  an  old  squaw  came  into  the 
lodge,  bringing  with  her  some  buffalo-meat,  and  a 
gourd  of  water,  which  she  put  down  by  me,  and  made 
signs  to  me  to  eat  and  drink;  but  I  had  no  appetite, 
and  merely  took  a  drink  of  the  water. 

I  could  only  see  imperfectly  what  was  going  on  out- 
side of  the  lodge,  but  I  knew  from  the  whooping  and 
yelling,  and  the  running  to  and  fro  that  something  was 
up,  and  I  was  very  much  afraid  that  my  arrival  had  a 


44  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

good  deal  to  do  with  it.  However,  everything  quited 
down  in  an  hour  or  so. 

A  strong  guard  was  placed  at  night  around  the 
lodge  in  which  I  was  confined,  and  this  confirmed  me 
in  my  suspicions  that  foul  play  was  intended  me,  and 
at  the  same  time  precluded  all  hope  of  escape.  My 
reflections  during  that  night  were  anything  but  agree- 
able, as  may  well  be  supposed,  and  my  sleep  was 
broken  and  disturbed. 

About  sunrise  the  next  morning,  the  old  squaw 
came  into  the  lodge  again  with  some  provisions,  which 
she  placed  near  me  on  the  floor,  and  then  she  seated 
herself  and  looked  at  me  a  long  time  without  saying 
a  word.  After  a  while,  she  took  one  of  my  hands  in 
her  wrinkled  paws,  and  rubbed  and  patted  it  all  the 
time  humming,  in  a  sort  of  "bumble-bee  tone,"  one  of 
the  most  mournful  ditties  I  ever  heard.  At  length, 
she  got  up  to  leave,  but  before  she  did  so  she  tried 
very  hard  by  signs  to  make  me  comprehend  something 
she  wished  to  say,  but  I  couldn't  understand  what  it 
was.  She  was  as  wrinkled  and  ugly  as  an  old  witch, 
but  still  there  was  something  benevolent  and  kind 
about  her  features,  that  made  me  think  she  would 
willingly  befriend  me  if  she  had  it  in  her  power. 

Not  long  after  she  had  left  the  lodge,  I  heard  a 
great  "pow-wowing"  outside,  and  then  the  most  terri- 
ble racket  commenced  I  ever  listened  to,  yelling, 
whooping,  and  beating  of  drums,  and  rattling  of 
gourds  and  the  large  shields  made  of  dry  hides, 
hung  around  with  bears'  tusks  and  pieces  of  metal, 
which  the  Indians  make  use  of  to  stampede  horses 
when  on  their  stealing  expeditions.  In  a  few  moments 
after  the  row  commenced,  several  warriors  came  into 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  45 

the  lodge,  and  one  of  them  proceeded  to  blacken  my 
face  and  hands  with  a  mixture  he  had  in  an  earthen 
vessel.  When  they  had  painted  me  in  this  way,  they 
made  signs  to  me  to  follow  them,  which  I  did  very 
unwillingly,  for  I  had  no  doubt  they  were  going  to 
put  me  to  death,  with  all  the  tortures  to  which  I  had 
been  told  the  Indians  usually  subject  those  who  are  so 
unfortunate  as  to  be  made  prisoners  by  them. 


CHAPTER  X 

Led  Out  for  Execution — Saved  at  the  Last  Moment — A  New 
Mother  and  a  New  Home — Comanche  in   Luck 
Again — "Lobo-lusti-hadjo." 


M' 


Y  guard  led  me  out  into  a  sort  of  square 
between  the  lodges,  in  which  all  the  In- 
dians belonging  to  the  encampment  — 
men,  women,  and  children  —  were  assembled,  and 
proceeded  to  bind  me  hand  and  foot  to  a  post  firmly 
fixed  in  the  ground.  I  was  convinced  then  what  my 
fate  was  to  be,  especially  when  I  looked  around  and 
saw  the  terrible  preparations  that  had  been  made  for 
the  ceremony  of  burning  a  prisoner  at  the  stake.  Near 
me  there  was  a  great  heap  of  dry  wood,  and  a  fire 
burning,  and  twenty  or  thirty  grim  warriors  stood 
around,  painted  and  blacked  up  in  the  most  fantastic 
way,  with  their  tomahawks  and  scalping  knives  in 
their  hands,  who,  I  supposed,  were  to  act  as  my 
executioners. 

When  they  had  fastened  me  securely  to  the  stake, 
the  chief  to  whom  I  had  surrendered  rose  up  from  a 
sort  of  platform,  on  which  he  had  been  sitting,  and 
made  a  speech  to  the  crowd.  He  spoke  in  his  own 
language,  and  of  course  I  could  understand  but  little 
of  what  he  said,  but  it  seemed  to  me  he  was  telling 
them  how  the  white  people  had  encroached  upon  them, 
and  stolen  from  them  their  hunting-grounds,  and 
driven  them  farther  and  farther  into  the  wilderness, 
and  that  it  was  a  good  deed  to  burn  every  one  of  the 
hated  race  that  fell  into  their  hands.    After  he  had 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  47 

finished  speaking,  the  painted  warriors  formed  a  ring, 
and  while  one  of  them  heaped  up  the  drywood  on  all 
sides  of  me  as  high  as  my  waist,  the  balance  danced 
around  me,  singing  the  "death-song"  and  brandishing 
their  tomahawks  and  knives. 

I  thought,  sure  enough,  my  time  had  come,  and  I 
tried  to  summon  up  courage  enough  to  meet  my  fate 
like  a  man.  I  don't  know  how  far  I  would  have  suc- 
ceeded in  this,  for  just  at  this  moment  the  old  squaw 
I  had  seen  in  the  lodge  rushed  through  the  crowd  of 
painted  warriors,  and  began  to  throw  the  wood  from 
around  me,  all  the  time  talking  and  gesticulating  in 
the  wildest  manner.  One  of  the  warriors  seized  her 
and  put  her  out  of  the  ring  by  main  force,  but  she 
addressed  herself  to  the  crowd,  and  made  them  a  reg- 
ular set  speech,  during  which  she  every  now  and  then 
turned  and  pointed  toward  me.  I  was  satisfied  that 
for  some  cause,  I  knew  not  what,  the  old  squaw  was 
doing  her  best  to  save  me  from  burning  at  the  stake, 
and  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  I  wished  her  success 
from  the  bottom  of  my  heart.  The  crowd  listened  to 
her  in  silence  for  some  time,  when  some  began,  as  I 
thought,  to  applaud  her,  and  others  to  cry  out  against 
her;  but  it  seems  that  she  at  last  brought  over  the 
majority  to  her  side,  for  after  a  great  deal  of  jabber- 
ing, a  number  of  women  rushed  in  between  the  war- 
riors and  untied  me  from  the  stake  in  a  moment,  and 
handed  me  over  to  the  old  squaw  for  safe-keeping; 
and  somehow,  though  I  had  understood  but  little  of 
all  that  had  been  said  on  either  side  for  or  against  me, 
I  knew  that  I  was  saved,  at  least  for  the  time.  I  felt 
as  much  relieved  In  my  mind  as  when  I  drew  the 
**whlte  bean"  at  the  city  of  Saltillo. 


48  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

I  learned  afterward  that  the  old  squaw  had  lost 
one  of  her  sons  in  a  fight  with  some  of  the  neighboring 
tribes,  and  that  she  had  set  up  a  claim  to  me,  accord- 
ing to  the  Indian  custom  in  such  cases,  as  a  substitute. 
But  the  Indians,  I  suppose,  were  bent  on  having  a 
little  fun,  in  which  I  was  to  play  the  part  of  frog, 
and  they  the  pelters,  and,  as  you  have  seen,  it  was 
only  by  the  "skin  of  her  teeth"  that  she  came  out 
winner  at  the  last  quarter  stretch.  But  I  was  very 
glad,  I  can  tell  you,  that  their  frolic  was  stopped  in 
this  way,  for  I  had  n't  the  least  ambition  to  perform 
the  part  they  intended  for  me  in  the  ceremony. 

My  adopted  mother  conducted  me  to  her  lodge, 
patted  me  on  the  head,  and  sang  another  "bumble- 
bee ditty"  over  me,  to  all  of  which  I  made  no  objec- 
tion, as  I  was  very  glad  to  get  off  from  being  roasted 
alive  on  any  terms.  She  then,  as  I  supposed,  made 
signs  to  me  to  "consider  myself  at  home,"  and  "as 
one  of  the  family"  from  that  time.  In  a  little  while 
afterward,  some  squaws  brought  me  my  gun  and  all 
my  equipments,  even  to  my  Mexican  gourd,  and  gave 
them  to  me.  Even  Comanche  was  hunted  up  and 
brought  to  the  lodge,  and  delivered  up  to  me  as  part 
of  my  property.  Poor  Comanche  had  seen  a  rough 
time,  as  well  as  myself,  since  we  were  separated.  He 
was  half  starved,  and  looked  as  if  he  had  been  beaten 
unmercifully  by  every  urchin  in  the  encampment.  He 
was  real  glad  to  see  me  again,  and  I  "made  myself  at 
home"  at  once  by  giving  him  all  the  cold  victuals  I 
could  find  about  the  premises. 

The  old  squaw,  my  mother  now,  had  one  son  still 
living  with  her,  "Lobo-lusti-hadjo,"  or  the  "Black 
Wolf,"  and  of  course,  according  to  the  Indian  laws, 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  49 

he  was  now  my  brother,  and,  Indian  though  he  was, 
be  proved  a  brother  to  me  as  long  as  I  lived  with  the 
tribe,  which  was  about  three  months ;  and  when  I  left, 
it  was  with  his  knowledge,  and  he  did  all  that  he  could 
to  aid  me  In  effecting  my  escape.  I  have  met  with  few 
men  anywhere  that  I  liked  better  than  Black  Wolf. 
He  was  a  man  of  good  natural  sense,  and  as  brave  as 
the  bravest,  and  there  was  nothing  cruel  of  blood- 
thirsty in  his  disposition,  and,  what  is  very  unusual 
among  the  Indians,  he  was  very  much  attached  to  his 
old  mother,  and  did  everything  he  could  to  make  her 
comfortable  in  her  old  age. 

I  might  lengthen  out  my  story  a  good  deal  by  tell- 
ing of  all  that  occurred  to  me  while  I  was  with  these 
Indians — how  I  went  with  them  upon  their  buffalo 
hunts,  and  once  upon  a  "foray"  with  them  into  Mex- 
ico, where  I  acquired  a  considerable  reputation  as  a 
promising  young  warrior  in  a  hard  fight  we  had  there 
with  the  Mexican  rancheros,  etc., — ^but  I  am  afraid 
I  should  grow  tiresome,  and  for  this  reason,  I  will 
bring  this  part  of  my  story  to  an  end  as  soon  as 
possible. 

The  old  chief  to  whom  I  surrendered  in  the  first 
instance,  for  some  cause  had  taken  a  great  liking  to 
me,  and  offered  me  his  sister  for  a  wife,  and  a  home  in 
his  own  wigwam ;  but  I  preferred  staying  with  Black 
Wolf  and  his  old  mother,  for,  in  fact,  the  chief's  sis- 
ter was  n't  as  attractive  as  some  women  I  have  seen. 
She  was  tall  and  raw-boned,  and  her  cheeks  looked 
like  a  couple  of  small  pack-saddles,  and  her  finger 
nails  were  as  long  as  a  catamount's  claws,  and  not 
overly  clean  at  that,  and  I  had  no  doubt  she  could 
have  used  them  just  as  well  ''on  a  pinch" — at  least 


50  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

that  was  my  private  opinion,  though  I  did  not  tell  the 
chief  so. 

When  I  had  been  about  two  months  with  the  tribe,  I 
learned  to  speak  their  language  pretty  well,  and  Black 
Wolf  never  tired  of  asking  me  questions  about  the 
"  white  people,"  and  their  big  canoes,  steamboats, 
railroads,  etc.,  for  he  had  heard  about  all  these  things 
at  the  trading  posts  he  had  occasionally  visited.  I  told 
him  that  the  white  people  were  so  numerous  that  they 
had  many  "permanent  camps"  in  which  there  were 
forty,  fifty,  and  a  hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  and 
one  in  which  there  was  more  than  half  a  million. 

He  said  he  knew  they  were  a  powerful  people,  but 
he  had  no  idea  before  that  their  number  was  so  great, 
But  he  said  what  I  had  told  him  about  them  confirmed 
him  in  the  opinion  he  had  had  for  a  long  time,  that 
the  white  people  would  gradually  spread  over  the 
whole  country,  from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  that  the  day 
would  soon  come  when  there  would  be  nothing  left 
to  show  that  the  Indians  had  once  occupied  all  this 
vast  territory,  except  here  and  there  a  little  mound 
built  over  their  graves,  or  a  stone  arrow-head, 
ploughed  up  by  the  white  people  where  they  had  once 
hunted  the  buffalo  or  the  grizzly  bear.  And  as  his 
reason  for  thinking  so,  he  related  to  me  the  following 
legend,  which  he  said  had  been  told  him  by  his  father 
when  he  was  a  little  boy. 


CHAPTER  XI 

Black  Wolf's  Indian  Legend — Determination  to  Escape — 
Back  in  the  Settlements. 

A  GREAT  many  years  ago,"  said  Black  Wolf, 
"a  young  chief,  belonging  to  one  of  the  most 
^powerful  tribes  of  Arkansas,  concluded  that 
he  would  visit  one  of  the  nearest  white  settlements, 
and  see  some  of  the  people  of  whom  he  had  heard  so 
much.  So  he  took  his  gun  and  dog,  crossed  the  'father 
of  waters'  in  his  canoe,  and  travelled  for  many  days 
toward  the  rising  of  the  sun,  through  a  dense  forest 
that  had  never  echoed  to  the  sound  of  the  white  man's 
axe.  One  day,  just  as  the  sun  was  setting,  he  came  to 
the  top  of  a  high  hill,  and  four  or  five  miles  away,  in 
the  valley  below,  he  saw  the  smoke  curling  up  from 
the  chimneys  of  the  most  western  settlement,  at  that 
time,  east  of  the  Mississippi  river. 

"As  it  was  too  late  to  reach  the  settlement  before 
dark,  the  chief  sought  out  the  thickest  part  of  the 
woods,  where  he  spread  his  blanket  upon  the  ground, 
and  laid  himself  down  upon  it,  with  the  intention  of 
passing  the  night  there.  He  had  scarcely  settled  him- 
self to  rest,  when  he  heard  a  'halloo'  a  long  way  off 
among  the  hills.  Supposing  that  some  one  had  got 
lost  in  the  woods,  he  raised  himself  up  and  shouted 
as  loud  as  he  could.  Again  he  heard  the  'halloo'  ap- 
parently a  little  nearer,  but  it  sounded  so  mournful 
and  wild,  and  so  unlike  the  voice  of  any  living  being, 
that  he  became  alarmed,  and  did  not  shout  in  return. 
After  awhile,  however,  the  long,  mournful  'halloo-o-o' 


52  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

was  repeated,  and  this  time  much  nearer  than  before. 
The  chiefs  heart  beat  loudly  in  his  bosom,  and  a  cold 
sweat  broke  out  upon  his  forehead ;  for  he  knew  that 
the  unearthly  sounds  that  met  his  ears  never  came 
from  mortal  lips.  His  very  dog,  too,  seemed  to  under- 
stand this,  for  he  whined  and  cowered  down  at  his 
feet,  seemingly  in  the  greatest  dread.  Again  the  pro- 
longed and  mournful  'hallo-o-o'  was  heard,  and  this 
time  close  at  hand,  and  in  a  few  moments  and  Indian 
warrior  stalked  up  and  took  a  seat  near  the  chief,  and 
gazed  mournfully  at  him  out  of  his  hollow  eyes,  with- 
out uttering  a  word. 

'*He  was  dressed  in  a  different  garb  from  anything 
the  chief  had  ever  seen  worn  by  the  Indians,  andheheld 
a  bow  in  his  withered  hand,  and  a  quiver,  filled  with 
arrows,  was  slung  across  his  shoulders.  As  the  chief 
looked  more  closely  at  him,  he  saw  that  his  unearthly 
visitor  was,  in  fact,  a  grinning  skeleton ;  for  his  white 
ribs  showed  plainly  through  the  rents  in  his  robe,  and 
though  seemingly  he  looked  at  the  chief,  there  were 
no  eyes  in  the  empty  sockets  he  turned  toward  him. 
Presently  the  figure  rose  up,  and,  in  a  hollow  voice, 
spoke  to  the  chief,  and  told  him  to  return  from 
whence  he  came,  for  their  race  was  doomed  —  that 
they  would  disappear  before  the  white  people  like  dew 
before  the  morning  sun — that  he  was  the  spirit  of  one 
of  his  forefathers,  and  that  he  came  to  warn  him  of 
the  fate  that  awaited  him  and  his  people — ^that  he 
could  remember  when  the  Indians  were  as  numerous 
as  the  leaves  on  the  trees,  and  the  white  people  were 
few  and  weak,  and  shut  up  in  their  towns  upon  the 
sea-shore — now  they  are  strong,  and  their  number 
cannot  be  counted,  and  before  many  years  they  will 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  53 

drive  the  last  remnant  of  the  red  race  into  the  waters 
of  the  great  western  ocean.  'Go  back/  said  the  figure, 
advancing  toward  the  chief,  and  waving  his  withered 
hand,  'and  tell  your  people  to  prepare  themselves  for 
their  doom,  and  to  meet  me  in  the  "happy  hunting 
grounds,"  where  the  white  man  shall  trouble  them 
no  more.' 

"As  he  said  this  he  came  up  close  to  the  chief,  and 
placed  his  skeleton  fingers  on  his  head,  and  glared  at 
him  out  of  the  empty  sockets  in  his  fleshless  skull! 
'Son  of  a  fading  race,  the  last  hour  of  your  unfor- 
tunate people  is  fast  approaching,  and  soon  not  a  ves- 
tige of  them  will  be  left  on  all  this  wide  continent. 
They  and  their  forests,  their  hunting  grounds,  their 
villages  and  wigwams,  will  disappear  forever,  and  the 
white  man's  cities  and  towns  will  rise  up  in  the  places 
where  they  once  chased  the  buffalo,  the  elk,  and  the 
deer.' 

"The  chief  was  as  fearless  a  warrior  as  ever  went 
to  battle ;  but  when  he  felt  the  cold  touch  of  that  skele- 
ton hand,  a  horrible  dread  took  possession  of  him,  and 
he  remembered  nothing  of  what  happened  afterward. 
In  the  morning,  when  he  woke  up,  the  sun  was  shin- 
ing brightly  over  head,  and  the  birds  were  whistling 
and  chirping  in  the  trees  above  him.  He  looked 
around  for  his  gun,  and  was  surprised  beyond  reason 
when  he  picked  it  up  and  found  that  the  barrel  was  all 
eaten  up  with  rust,  and  the  stock  so  decayed  and  rotten 
that  it  fell  to  pieces  in  his  hand.  His  dog  was  nowhere 
to  be  seen,  and  he  whistled  and  called  to  him  in  vain ; 
but  at  his  feet  he  saw  a  heap  of  white  bones,  among 
which  there  was  a  skeleton  of  a  neck,  with  the  collar 
his  dog  had  worn  still  around  it!    He  then  noticed 


54  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

that  his  buckskin  Jhunting-shirt  was  decayed  and  mil- 
dewed, and  hung  in  tatters  upon  him,  and  that  his 
hair  had  grown  so  long  that  it  reached  down  nearly 
to  his  waist.  Bewildered  by  all  these  sudden  and 
curious  changes,  he  took  his  way  toward  the  top  of 
the  hill,  from  which,  the  evening  before,  he  had  seen 
the  smoke  rising  up  from  the  cabins  of  the  frontier 
settlement,  and  what  was  his  astonishment  when  he 
saw,  spread  out  in  the  valley  below  him,  a  great  city, 
with  its  spires  and  steeples  rising  up  as  far  as  his  eye 
could  extend;  and  in  place  of  the  dense,  unbroken 
forests  that  covered  the  earth  when  he  came,  a  wide, 
open  country  presented  itself  to  his  view,  fenced  up 
into  fields  and  pastures,  and  dotted  over  with  the 
white  man's  stately  houses  and  buildings. 

"As  he  gazed  at  all  this  in  surprise  and  wonder,  he 
could  distinctly  hear,  from  where  he  stood,  the  distant 
hum  of  the  vast  multitude  who  were  laboring  and 
trafficking  and  moving  about  in  the  great  city  below 
him.  Sad  and  dispirited,  he  turned  his  course  home- 
ward, and  travelling  many  days  and  nights  through 
farms  and  villages  and  towns,  he  at  length  reached 
once  more  the  banks  of  the  mighty  Mississippi.  But 
the  white  people  had  got  there  before  him,  and  in 
place  of  a  silent  and  lonely  forest,  he  found  a  large 
town  built  up  where  it  had  once  stood,  and  saw  a  huge 
steamboat  puffing  and  paddling  along  right  where  he 
had  crossed  the  ^father  of  waters'  in  his  little  canoe. 
When  he  had  crossed  the  river,  he  found  that  the 
white  settlements  had  gone  on  a  long  ways  beyond  it, 
but  at  length  came  to  the  wilderness  again,  and  after 
wandering  about  for  many  moons,  he  at  last  came  up. 
with  the  remnant  of  his  people,  but  now  no  longer  a 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  55 

powerful  tribe,  such  as  he  had  left  them,  for  they  had 
dwindled  down  to  a  mere  handful.  His  father  and 
mother  were  dead,  his  brothers  and  sisters  were  all 
dead,  and  no  one  knew  the  poor  old  warrior  that  had 
appeared  so  suddenly  among  them.  For  a  while  he 
staid  with  them,  and  talked,  in  the  strangest  way, 
about  things  that  had  happened  long  before  the  old- 
est people  in  the  tribe  were  born;  but  one  day,  after 
telling  the  story  I  have  told  to  you,  he  took  his  way 
towards  the  setting  sun,  and  was  never  seen  more." 

When  I  had  been  about  three  months  with  the  tribe, 
I  began  to  long  exceedingly  to  be  once  more  with  my 
own  people.  I  lost  all  relish  for  "forays"  and  "hunt- 
ing expeditions,"  and  thought  only  of  effecting  my 
escape,  and  making  my  way  back  to  the  "settlements." 
I  became  moody  and  discontented  to  such  a  degree 
that  Black  Wolf  and  his  mother  at  length  took  notice 
of  it.  One  day,  when  Black  Wolf  and  myself  were 
alone  together  in  the  lodge,  he  said  to  me,  "  My 
brother,  what  is  it  that  makes  you  so  unhappy  and 
discontented ;  for  I  have  seen  for  some  time  that  you 
have  had  something  on  your  mind?  Has  any  one 
mistreated  my  brother?" 

"No,"  said  I,  "every  one  has  treated  me  well;  but 
I  tell  you  frankly,  my  brother"  (for  I  knew  he  would 
not  betray  me),  "I  am  pining  to  see  my  own  people 
again,  and  I  am  determined  to  attempt  to  make  my 
escape  into  the  settlements,  if  it  should  cost  me  my 
life." 

"My  brother,"  said  Black  Wolf,  "I  shall  be  very 
sorry  if  you  leave  us,  and  so  will  my  old  mother ;  but  it 
is  not  strange  you  should  wish  to  see  your  own  people 


56  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

again,  and  you  must  go.  I  will  help  you  all  that  I  can 
to  reach  the  settlements  in  safety.  But  be  careful," 
said  he,  "not  to  say  a  word  about  this  to  anybody, 
for  if  you  should  attempt  to  escape  and  be  recaptured, 
nothing  could  save  your  life,  and  I  should  be  put  to 
death  for  having  aided  you.'* 

As  Black  Wolf  advised  me,  I  said  nothing  to  any 
one  of  my  intention  of  leaving,  except  to  his  old  mother. 
She  tried  very  hard  to  dissuade  me  from  going,  but 
finding  I  was  resolute  in  my  purpose,  she  gave  up 
the  point,  and  sang  two  or  three  more  of  her  "bumble- 
bee" ditties  over  me  at  parting,  which  seemed  to 
lighten  her  grief  considerably.  She  also  made  me  a 
present  of  a  dried  terrapin's  tail,  which  she  said 
would  protect  me  from  all  danger  from  bullets  in 
battle.  I  have  kept  the  terrapin's  tail,  out  of  respect 
for  the  old  squaw,  but  I  must  say,  in  the  many  "scrim- 
mages" I  have  been  in  since  then  with  the  Mexicans 
and  Indians,  I  have  had  more  faith  in  the  efficacy  of 
a  tree  or  a  stump  to  protect  me  from  bullets,  than  in 
the  charm  she  gave  me.  She  also  gave  me  a  necklace 
made  of  the  claws  of  the  grizzly  bear  and  porcupine 
quills,  and  a  large  copper  ring  to  wear  in  my  nose. 

Black  Wolf  and  I  made  our  preparations  quietly 
for  the  journey,  but  without  exciting  any  suspicions 
on  the  part  of  the  other  Indians  that  I  had  any  inten- 
tion of  quitting  the  tribe,  as  we  told  them  we  were 
going  into  the  "hills"  to  take  a  bear  hunt,  and  would 
be  absent  possibly  several  days.  Black  Wolf  led  the 
way,  and  Comanche  and  I  followed,  and  the  first  day 
we  travelled  at  least  thirty  miles  from  the  village, 
and  camped  together  that  night  for  the  last  time.  In 
the  morning,  before  we  separated.  Black  Wolf  traced 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  57 

out  upon  the  ground  a  map  of  the  route  I  had  to  go, 
marking  down  upon  It  accurately  all  the  ranges  of 
hills  and  watercourses  I  would  pass  on  the  way.  He 
then  bade  me  good-by,  and  shouldering  his  gun,  sor- 
rowfully took  his  course  back  toward  the  village,  and 
was  soon  lost  sight  of  among  the  hills. 

During  my  stay  with  the  Indians  I  had  acquired 
considerable  knowledge  of  the  woods,  and  how  to 
steer  my  course  through  them  even  when  the  sun 
was  not  visible,  and,  in  eight  days  after  parting  from 
Black  Wolf,  I  arrived  safely  at  the  "settlements," 
and  thus  ended  my  first  expedition  into  the  ''wilder- 
ness." Comanche  lived  with  me  until  he  died  of  old 
age,  and  left  a  progeny  behind  him,  that,  for  trailing 
and  fighting  "varmints"  and  "sucking  eggs,"  can't  be 
beat  by  any  dogs  in  the  State  of  Texas. 


CHAPTER  XII 

Belated  in  the  Woods — Wolves  on  the  Track — One   Fellow 

Out  of  the  Way — Reinforcements  Coming  Up — A 

Hand-to-Hand  Fight. 

HAVE  I  ever  told  you,  asked  Big-Foot,  about 
the  "tussle"  I  had  with  the  wolves  a  short 
time  after  I  came  to  Texas?  It  was  a  sort 
of  initiation  fee  paid  for  my  entrance  into  the  mys- 
teries of  border  life,  and  I  don't  think  I  have  ever 
been  as  badly  frightened  before  or  since.  It  happened 
in  this  way : 

One  very  cold  evening,  two  or  three  hours,  per- 
haps, before  sundown,  I  concluded  to  take  a  little 
round  in  the  woods,  by  way  of  exercise,  and  bring 
home  some  fresh  venison  for  supper;  so  I  picked  up 
"sweet-lips"  (his  rifle)  and  started  for  a  rough 
broken  piece  of  country,  where  previously  I  had  al- 
ways found  deer  in  abundance.  But,  somehow,  the 
deer  did  n't  seem  to  be  stirring  that  evening,  and  I 
walked  two  or  three  miles  without  finding  a  single 
one.  After  going  so  far,  I  hated  to  return  without 
meat,  and  I  kept  on,  still  hoping  to  find  the  deer  be- 
fore it  go  too  dark  to  shoot ;  but  at  last  I  had  to  give 
it  up,  and  turned  my  course  back  toward  home  again. 

By  this  time  the  sun  was  setting,  and  I  hurried  up 
as  fast  as  possible,  to  get  out  of  the  chaparral  and  into 
the  prairie  before  night  came  on.  All  the  evening  I 
had  heard  the  wolves  howling  around  in  an  unusual 
way,  but  I  had  no  fear  of  them,  as  I  had  been  told 
they  seldom,  if  ever,  attacked  a  man  in  Texas.  When 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  5  9 

I  had  gone  back  perhaps  a  half  mile  or  so,  a  large 
gray  wolf  trotted  out  into  the  path  before  me,  and 
commenced  howling  in  the  most  mournful  manner; 
and,  in  an  instant,  he  was  answered  by  a  dozen  other 
wolves  in  the  hills  around  us.  Thinks  I,  old  fellow, 
if  you  are  hatching  a  plot  for  my  benefit,  I'll  make 
sure  of  you  anyhow;  so  I  brought  "sweet-lips"  to 
range  on  his  shoulder-blade,  and  at  the  crack  of  the 
gun  he  gave  one  spring  into  the  air  and  dropped  as 
dead  as  a  hammer  in  his  tracks. 

But,  somehow,  although  I  can't  say  I  felt  any  fear 
of  them,  my  suspicions  were  aroused  as  to  foul  play 
on  the  part  of  the  gentlemen  who  were  answering 
him  from  the  hills,  and  I  loosened  "old  butch"  in  the 
sheath,  and  rammed  another  bullet  down  "sweet  lips" 
and  as  soon  as  I  had  done  so,  I  put  out  for  home  again 
in  double-quick  time.  But  the  faster  I  went  the  faster 
the  wolves  followed  me,  and  looking  back  after  a 
littlewhile,Isaw  twenty-five  or  thirty  "lobos"(  a  large, 
fierce  kind  of  wolf,  found  only  in  Mexico  and  Texas) 
trotting  along  after  me  at  a  rate  I  knew  would  soon 
bring  them  into  close  quarters ;  and  in  the  bushes  and 
chaparral,  that  bordered  the  trail  I  was  travelling,  I 
could  see  the  gleaming  eyes  and  pointed  ears  of  at 
least  a  dozen  others  coming  rapidly  toward  me. 

I  saw  in  a  minute  that  they  meant  mischief,  but  I 
knew  it  was  useless  to  try  to  beat  a  wolf  in  a  foot- 
race. However,  I  resolved  to  keep  on  as  long  as  they 
would  let  me,  and  when  they  closed  in,  that  I  would 
giVe  them  the  best  ready-made  fight  I  had  "in  the 
shop."  So  I  stepped  out  as  briskly  as  I  could,  and  the 
wolves  trotted  after  me,  howling  in  a  way  that  made 
my  hair  stand  on  end  and  my  very  blood  run  cold. 


6o  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

A  dozen  times  I  wished  myself  back  again  safe  in 
"old  Virginny,"  where  a  man  might  travel  for  a  hun- 
dred miles  without  meeting  up  with  anything  more 
dangerous  than  a  'possum ;  but  wishing  didn't  stop  the 
wolves,  so  I  let  out  my  "best  licks,"  hoping  that  I 
could  make  home  before  they  could  muster  up  courage 
enough  to  attack  me. 

But,  I  "reckoned  without  my  host,"  for  one  big 
fellow,  more  daring  or  hungry  than  the  rest,  made  a 
rush  at  me,  and  I  barely  had  time  to  level  my  gun  and 
fire,  for  he  was  touching  the  muzzle  of  it  when  I 
pulled  the  trigger.  He  fell  dead  at  my  feet,  but,  as 
if  this  had  been  a  signal  for  a  general  attack,  in  an 
instant  the  whole  pack  were  around  me,  snarling  and 
snapping,  and  showing  their  white  teeth  in  a  way  that 
was  anything  but  pleasant. 

I  fought  them  off  with  the  breech  of  my  gun,  for 
they  did  n't  give  me  any  chance  to  load  it,  retreating 
all  the  while  as  rapidly  as  I  could.  Once  so  many  of 
them  rushed  in  upon  me  at  the  same  time,  that  in  spite 
of  all  my  efforts,  I  failed  to  keep  them  at  bay,  and  they 
dragged  me  to  the  ground.  I  thought  for  an  instant 
that  it  was  all  up  with  me,  but  despair  gave  me  the 
strength  of  half  a  dozen  men,  and  I  used  "old  butch" 
to  such  a  good  purpose  that  I  killed  three  outright  and 
wounded  several  others,  which  appeared  somewhat 
to  daunt  the  balance,  for  they  drew  off  a  short  distance 
and  began  to  howl  for  reinforcements. 

The  reinforcements  were  on  their  way,  for  I  could 
hear  them  howling  in  every  direction,  and  I  knew  that 
I  had  no  time  to  lose.  So  I  put  off  at  the  top  of  my 
speed,  and  in  those  days  it  took  a  pretty  fast  Spanish 
pony  to  beat  me  a  quarter  when  I  "let  out  the  kinks." 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  6 1 

I  let  'em  out  this  time  with  a  will,  I  tell  you,  and  JFairly 
beat  the  wolves  for  a  half  mile  or  so,  but  my  breath 
then  began  to  fail  me,  and  I  could  tell  by  their  close 
angry  yelps  that  the  devils  were  again  closing  in  upon 
me. 

By  this  time  I  was  so  much  exhausted  that  I  knew 
I  should  make  a  poor  fight  of  it,  more  especially  as  I 
could  perceive,  from  the  number  of  dark  forms  be- 
hind me,  and  the  gleaming  eyes  and  shining  teeth  that 
glistened  out  of  every  bush  on  the  wayside,  that  the 
wolves  had  had  a  considerable  addition  to  their  num- 
ber. It  may  be  thought  strange  that  I  didn't  "take  to  a 
tree,"  but  there  were  no  trees  there  to  take  to  — 
nothing  but  stunted  chaparral  bushes,  not  much  high- 
er than  a  man's  head. 

I  thought  my  time  had  come  at  last,  and  I  was  al- 
most ready  to  give  up  in  despair,  when  all  at  once  I 
remembered  seeing,  as  I  came  out,  a  large  lone  oak- 
tree,  with  a  hollow  in  it  about  large  enough  for  a  man 
to  crawl  into,  that  grew  on  the  banks  of  a  small  canon 
not  more  than  three  or  four  hundred  yards  from 
where  I  then  was.  I  resolved  to  make  one  more  effort,' 
and,  if  possible,  to  reach  this  tree  before  the  wolves 
came  up  with  me  again ;  and  if  ever  there  was  good, 
honest  running  done,  without  any  throw-off  about  it, 
I  did  it  then.  The  fact  is,  I  believe  a  man  can't  tell 
how  fast  he  can  run  until  he  gets  a  pack  of  wolves 
after  him  in  this  way.  A  fellow  will  naturally  do  his 
best  when  he  knows  that,  if  he  does  n't,  in  twenty 
minutes  he  will  be  "parcelled  out"  among  as  many 
ravenous  wolves,  a  head  to  one,  a  leg  to  another,  an 
arm  to  a  third,  and  so  on.  At  least  that  was  the  effect 
it  had  on  me,  and  I  split  the  air  so  fast  with  my  nose 


62  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

that  it  took  the  skin  off  of  it,  and  for  a  week  afterward 
it  looked  like  a  peeled  onion. 

However,  I  beat  the  wolves  once  more  fairly  and 
squarely,  and  not  much  time  to  spare  either,  for  just 
as  I  crawled  into  the  hollow  of  the  tree,  which  was 
about  as  high  as  my  head  from  the  ground,  the  raven- 
ous creatures  were  howling  all  around  me.  At  the 
bottom  of  the  hollow  I  found  a  "skunk"  snugly 
stowed  away,  but  I  soon  routed  him  out,  and  the 
wolves  gobbled  him  up  in  an  instant.  He  left  a  smell 
behind  him,  though,  that  was  anything  but  agreeable 
in  such  close  quarters.  However,  I  was  safe  there,  at 
any  rate,  from  the  attacks  of  the  wolves,  and  all  the 
smells  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans  couldn't  have  driven 
me  from  my  hole  just  at  that  time. 

The  wolves  could  only  get  at  me  one  at  a  time,  and 
with  "old  butch"  in  my  hand,  I  knew  I  could  manage 
a  hundred  in  that  way.  But  such  howling  and  yelling 
I  never  heard  before  or  since  but  once,  and  that  was 
when  I  was  with  the  Keechies,  and  a  runner  came  in 
and  told  them  their  great  chief  "Buffalo  Hump,"  had 
been  killed  in  a  fight  with  the  Lipans !  They  bit,  and 
gnawed,  and  scratched,  but  it  was  n't  any  use,  and 
every  now  and  then  a  fellow  would  jump  up  and  poke 
his  nose  into  the  hollow  of  the  tree;  but  just  as  sure 
as  he  did  it,  he  caught  a  wipe  across  it  with  "old  butch" 
that  generally  satisfied  his  curiosity  for  a  while.  All 
night  long  they  kept  up  their  serenade,  and,  as  you 
may  well  suppose,  I  did  n't  get  much  sleep.  However, 
the  noise  did  n't  matter,  for  I  had  got  several 
severe  bites  on  my  arms  and  legs  and  the  pain  I  suf- 
fered from  them  would  have  kept  me  awake  anyhow. 

Just  at  daylight  the  next  morning  the  wolves  began 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  63 

to  sneak  off,  and  when  the  sun  rose  not  one  was  to  be 
seen,  except  three  dead  ones  at  the  root  of  the  tree, 
that  had  come  in  contact  with  ''old  butch."  I  waited 
a  while  longer,  to  be  certain  they  had  all  left,  when  I 
crawled  out  of  my  den,  gave  myself  a  shake,  and 
found  I  was  all  right,  except  a  pound  or  so  of  flesh 
taken  out  of  one  of  my  legs,  and  a  few  scratches  on 
my  arms.  I  hobbled  back  home ;  and  for  a  long  time 
afterward,  whenever  I  heard  the  howling  of  wolves, 
I  always  felt  a  little  uneasy. 

I  found  out,  the  next  day,  why  the  wolves  had  at- 
tacked me  in  the  way  they  did.  I  had  a  bottle  of  assa- 
foetida  in  my  trunk,  which  somehow  had  got  broken 
and  run  out  among  my  clothes,  and  when  the  wolves 
pitched  into  me  I  had  on  a  coat  that  had  been  wet 
with  the  confounded  stuff,  and  smelt  worse  than  a 
polecat.  I  had  often  heard  that  assafoetida  would  at- 
tract wolves,  but  I  always  thought,  before  this,  that 
it  was  a  sort  of  old-woman's  yarn ;  but,  it's  a  fact,  and 
if  you  don't  believe  it,  go  some  dark  night  into  a  thick 
chaparral,  where  wolves  are  numerous,  and  pour  about 
a  gill  over  your  coat,  and  then  wait  a  little,  and  see 
what  will  turn  up ;  and  if  you  don't  hear  howling  and 
snapping,  and  snarling,  I'll  agree  to  be  stung  to  death 
by  bumble-bees. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

A  Struggle  for  Life — Fight  with  the  "Big  Indian." 

WELL,  how  was  it,  Big-Foot,"  I  asked, 
"about  that  fight  you  had  with  the  big 
Indian  in  the  caiion?"  "The  fact  is,  sir," 
said  he,  "I  caught  a  tremendous  cold  last  night,  and 
Fm  so  hoarse  now  I  can  hardly  talk  at  all.  Fve  got 
this  cabin  chinked  entirely  too  tight,  (looking  around 
at  the  cracks,  through  which  the  stars  could  be  seen 
twinkling  in  every  direction),  and  I  shall  have  to 
knock  out  some  more  of  the  'daubin.'  Nothing  like 
a  tight  room  to  give  a  man  a  cold.  When  I  went  on 
to  the  'States,'  five  or  six  years  ago,  I  had  a  cold  con- 
stantly from  sleeping  in  rooms  that  were  as  tight  as 
a  bottle.  People  want  a  supply  of  fresh  air  just  as 
much  as  they  do  their  regular  meals,  and  occasionally 
something  to  clear  the  cobwebs  out  of  their  throats;" 
and  as  he  said  this,  Big-Foot  looked  longingly  toward 
the  corner  of  the  cabin  in  which  the  jug  was  deposited. 
I  took  the  hint,  and  handed  over  the  "red-eye," 
when  he  glued  the  mouth  of  the  jug  affectionately  to 
his  lips,  took  observation  of  the  stars  through  one 
of  the  chinks  for  about  half  a  minute,  and  then  setting 
it  down  with  a  long  breath,  he  wiped  his  lips  on  the 
cuff  of  his  hunting-skirt,  deliberately  drew  his  butcher- 
knife  from  its  sheath,  cut  a  section  from  a  plug  of 
tobacco,  crammed  it  into  his  mouth,  and  giving  a  pre- 
liminary squirt,  to  see  if  his  spitting  apparatus  was 
all  in  good  trim,  he  began  his  yarn  of  the  "struggle 
for  life." 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  65 

In  the  fall  of  '42,  the  Indians  were  worse  on  the 
frontiers  than  they  had  ever  been  before,  or  since.  You 
could  n't  stake  a  horse  out  at  night  with  any  expecta- 
tion of  finding  him  the  next  morning,  and  a  fellow's 
scalp  was  n't  safe  on  his  head  five  minutes,  outside  of 
his  own  shanty.  The  people  on  the  frontiers  at  last 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  something  had  to  be  done, 
or  else  they  would  be  compelled  to  fall  back  on  the 
"settlements,"  which  you  know  would  have  been  re- 
versing the  natural  order  of  things.  So  we  collected 
together  by  agreement  at  my  ranch,  organized  a  com- 
pany of  about  forty  men,  and  the  next  time  the  In- 
dians came  down  from  the  mountains  (and  we  had  n't 
long  to  wait  for  them)  we  took  the  trail,  determined 
to  follow  it  as  long  as  our  horses  would  hold  out. 

The  trail  led  us  up  toward  the  head-waters  of  the 
Llano,  and  the  third  day  out,  I  noticed  a  great  many 
"signal  smokes"  rising  up  a  long  ways  off  in  the  di- 
rection we  were  travelling.  These  "signal  smokes" 
are  very  curious  things  anyhow.  You  will  see  them  rise 
up  in  a  straight  column,  no  matter  how  hard  the  wind 
may  be  blowing,  and  after  reaching  a  great  height, 
they  will  spread  out  at  the  top  like  an  umbrella,  and 
then,  in  a  minute  or  so,  puff !  they  are  all  gone  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye.  How  the  Indians  make  them,  I 
never  could  learn,  and  I  have  often  asked  old  fron- 
tiersmen if  they  could  tell  me,  but  none  of  them  could 
ever  give  me  any  information  on  the  subject.  Even 
the  white  men  who  have  been  captured  by  the  Indians, 
and  lived  with  them  for  years,  never  learned  how 
these  "signal  smokes"  were  made. 


66  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

Well,  as  I  was  saying,  on  the  third  day  out,  we 
found  Indian  "signs"  as  plentiful  as  pig-tracks  around 
a  corn  crib,  and  I  told  the  captain  we  would  have  to 
move  very  cautiously,  or  we  would  be  apt  to  find  our- 
selves, before  long,  in  a  hornet's  nest.  That  night  we 
camped  at  a  "water-hole,"  and  put  out  a  double 
guard.  Just  before  the  sun  went  down,  I  had  noticed 
a  smoke,  apparently  about  three  miles  to  the  north- 
east of  us,  and  felt  satisfied  that  there  was  a  party  of 
Indians  encamped  at  that  place.  So  I  went  to  the  cap- 
tain and  told  him,  if  he  would  give  me  leave  to  do  so,  I 
would  get  up  an  hour  or  two  before  daylight  and  re- 
connoitre the  position,  and  find  out  whether  there  were 
any  Indians  there  or  not,  and  if  so,  to  what  tribe  they 
belonged,  what  was  their  number,  etc.  He  was  willing 
enough  to  let  me  go,  and  told  the  guards  to  pass  me 
out  whatever  way  I  wanted  to  leave. 

I  whetted  up  "old  butcher"  a  little,  rammed  two 
bullets  down  the  throat  of  "sweet  lips,"  and  about  two 
hours  before  daylight  I  left  camp,  and  started  o^  in 
the  direction  of  the  smoke  I  had  seen  the  evening  be- 
fore. The  chaparral,  in  some  places,  was  as  thick  as 
the  hair  on  a  dog's  back,  but  I  "scuffled"  through  it  in 
the  dark,  and  after  travelling  perhaps  a  mile  and  a 
half,  I  came  to  a  deep  caiion,  that  seemed  to  head  up 
in  the  direction  I  had  seen  the  smoke.  I  scrambled 
down  into  it  and  waited  until  day  began  to  break,  and 
then  slowly  and  cautiously  continued  my  course  along 
the  bottom  of  the  canon. 

The  caiion  was  very  crooked,  and  in  some  places  so 
narrow  that  there  was  hardly  room  enough  in  it  for 
two  men  to  travel  abreast.  At  length  I  came  to  a  place 
where  it  made  a  sudden  bend  to  the  left,  and  just  as 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  67 

I  turned  the  corner  I  came  plump  up  against  a  big 
Indian,  who  was  coming  down  the  caiion,  I  suppose, 
with  the  Intention  of  spying  out  our  camp.  We  were 
both  stooping  down  when  we  met,  and  our  heads  came 
together  with  considerable  force,  and  the  Indian  rolled 
one  way  and  I  the  other. 

Both  rose  about  the  same  time,  and  so  unexpected 
was  the  encounter,  that  we  stood  for  a  moment  uncer- 
tain what  to  do,  and  glaring  upon  each  other  like  two 
catamounts,  when  they  are  about  to  dispute  the  car- 
cass of  a  dead  deer.  The  Indian  had  a  gun  as  well  as 
I,  but  we  were  too  close  to  each  other  to  shoot,  and  it 
seemed  we  both  came  to  the  same  conclusion  as  to 
what  was  best  to  be  done  at  the  same  instant,  for  we 
dropped  our  rifles  and  grappled  each  other  without 
saying  a  word. 

You  see,  boys,  I  am  a  pretty  stout  man  yet,  but  in 
those  days,  without  meaning  to  brag,  I  don't  believe 
there  was  a  white  man  west  of  the  Colorado  River 
that  could  stand  up  against  me  In  a  regular  catamount, 
bear-hug,  hand-to-hand  fight.  But  the  minute  that  I 
'^hefted"  that  Indian  I  knew  I  had  undertaken  a  job 
that  would  bring  the  sweat  from  me  (and  maybe  so,  I 
thought,  a  little  blood  too)  before  it  was  satisfactorily 
finished.  He  was  nearly  as  tall  as  I  am,  say  six  feet 
one  or  two  inches,  and  would  weight,  I  suppose,  about 
one  hundred  and  seventy-five  pounds  net,  for  he  had 
no  clothes  on  worth  mentioning.  1  Fad  the  advan- 
tage of  him  in  weight,  but  he  was  as  wiry  and  active 
as  a  cat  and  as  slick  as  an  eel,  and  no  wonder  either, 
for  he  was  greased  from  head  to  foot  with  bear's  oil. 

At  it  we  went,  in  right  down  earnest,  without  a 
word  being  spoken  by  either  of  us,  first  up  one  side  of 


68  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

the  canon,  then  down  in  the  bottom,  then  up  the  other 
side,  and  the  dust  and  gravel  flew  in  such  a  way  that 
if  any  one  had  been  jpassing  along  the  bank  above, 
they  would  have  supposed  that  a  small  whirlwind  was 
raging  below.  I  was  a  little  the  strongest  of  the  two, 
however,  and  whenever  we  rose  to  our  feet,  I  could 
throw  the  Indian  easily  enough,  but  the  moment  he 
touched  the  ground,  the  "varmint"  would  give  him- 
self a  sort  of  a  squirm,  like  a  snake,  and  pop  right  up 
on  top  of  me,  and  I  could  n't  hold  him  still  a  moment, 
he  was  so  slick  with  bear's  grease.  Each  of  us  was 
trying  to  draw  his  butcher-knife  from  the  sheath  all 
the  time,  but  we  kept  each  other  so  busy,  neither  could 
get  a  chance  to  do  it. 

At  last,  I  found  that  my  breath  began  to  fail  me, 
and  came  to  the  conclusion,  if  something  was  n't  done 
pretty  soon,  I  would  "have  my  note  taken"  to  a  cer- 
tainty, for  the  Indian  was  like  a  Lobos  wolf,  and  was 
getting  better  the  longer  he  fought.  So,  the  next  time 
we  rose,  I  put  out  all  the  strength  I  had  left  in  me, 
and  gave  him  a  "back-handed  trip,"  that  brought  his 
head  with  great  force  against  a  sharp-pointed  rock 
upon  the  ground.  He  was  completely  stunned  by  the 
shock  for  an  instant,  and  before  he  fairly  came  to,  I 
snatched  my  knife  from  the  sheath,  and  drove  it  with 
all  my  strength  up  to  the  hilt  in  his  body.  The  moment 
he  felt  the  cold  steel  he  threw  me  off  of  him  as  if  I  had 
been  a  ten-year-old  boy,  sprang  upon  me  before  I  could 
rise,  drew  his  own  butcher-knife,  and  raised  it  above 
his  head  with  the  intention  of  plunging  it  into  my 
breast. 

I  tell  you  what,  boys,  I  often  see  that  Indian  now  in 
my  dreams,  particularly  after  eating  a  hearty  supper 


( 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  69 

of  bear's  ment  and  honey,  grappling  me  by  the  throat 
with  his  left  hand,  and  the  glittering  butcher-knife 
lilted  up  above  me  in  his  right,  and  his  two  fierce 
black  eyes  gleaming  like  a  panther's  In  the  dark! 
Under  such  circumstances,  it  is  astonishing  how  fast 
a  man  will  think.  He  thinks  faster  than  the  words  can 
fly  over  those  "new-fangled"  telegraph  lines.  I  looked 
up  to  the  blue  sky,  and  bid  it  a  long  farewell,  and  to 
the  green  trees,  the  sparkling  waters,  and  the  bright 
sun.  Then  I  thought  of  my  mother,  as  I  remembered 
her  when  I  was  a  little  boy,  the  "old  home,"  the  apple 
orchard,  the  brook  where  I  used  to  fish  for  minnows, 
and  the  "commons,"  where  I  used  to  ride  every  stray 
donkey  and  pony  I  could  catch;  and  then  I  thought 
of  Alice  Ann,  a  blue-eyed,  partridge-built  young 
woman  I  had  a  "leaning  to,"  who  lived  down  In  the 
Zumwalt  Settlement.  All  these,  and  many  more 
thoughts  besides,  flashed  through  my  mind  in  the  little 
time  that  knife  was  gleaming  above  my  breast. 

All  at  once  the  Indian  gave  a  keen  yell,  and  down 
came  the  knife  with  such  force  that  It  was  buried  to 
the  hilt  in  the  hard  earth  close  to  my  side.  The  last 
time  I  had  thrown  the  Indian,  a  deep  gash  had  been 
cut  in  his  forehead  by  the  sharp-pointed  rock,  and  the 
blood  running  down  into  his  eyes  from  the  wound 
blinded  him,  so  that  he  missed  his  aim.  I  fully  ex- 
pected him  to  repeat  his  blow,  but  he  lay  still,  and 
made  no  attempt  to  draw  the  knife  from  the  ground. 
I  looked  at  his  eyes,  and  they  were  closed  hard  and 
fast,  but  there  was  a  devilish  sort  of  grin  still  about 
his  mouth,  as  If  he  had  died  under  the  belief  that  he 
had  sent  me  before  him  into  the  "happy  hunting 
grounds." 


70  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

I  threw  him  off  of  me,  and  he  rolled  to  the  bottom 
of  the  canon  "stone  dead."  My  knife  had  gone  di- 
rectly to  his  heart.  I  looked  at  him  some  time,  lying 
there  so  still,  and  stiffening  fast  in  the  cold  morning 
air,  and  I  said  to  myself,  "Well,  old  fellow,  you  made 
a  good  fight  of  it  anyhow,  and  if  luck  hadn't  been 
against  you,  you  would  have  'taken  my  sign  in,'  too, 
to  a  certainty,  and  Alice  Ann  would  have  lost  the  best 
string  she's  got  to  her  bow." 

"And  now,"  said  I  to  myself,  "old  fellow,  I  am 
going  to  do  for  you  what  I  never  did  for  an  Indian 
before.  I  am  going  to  give  you  a  decent  Christian 
burial."  So  I  broke  his  gun  into  a  dozen  pieces  and 
laid  them  beside  him,  according  to  the  Indian  custom, 
so  it  might  be  handy  for  him  when  he  got  to  the 
"happy  hunting  grounds"  (though  if  they  haven't 
first-rate  smiths  there,  I  don't  think  it  will  be  fit  for 
use  soon)  and  then  I  pulled  up  some  pieces  of  rock 
from  the  sides  of  the  canon,  and  piled  them  around 
and  over  him  until  he  was  completely  covered,  and 
safe  from  the  attacks  of  cayotes  and  other  animals, 
and  there,  I  have  no  doubt,  his  bones  are  to  this  day. 

This  is  a  true  account  of  my  fight  with  the  big 
Indian  in  the  canon. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

A  Tight  Place — Indian  Signs — Ben  Wade's  Motto — Ben  and 
the  Buffalo  Ribs— "Ingins  About"— Here  They  Come. 

I  HAVE  been  in  many  tight  places,  said,  "Big- 
Foot,"  but  when  I  was  in  charge  of  the  mail- 
coach,  running  from  San  Antonio  to  El  Paso,  I 
got  into  one  I  thought  I  should  never  squeeze  out  of 
with  a  whole  hide,  but  I  did. 

In  all  the  rows  and  scrapes  I've  been  in  since  I 
came  to  Texas,  I  have  never  been  seriously  wounded 
either  with  an  arrow  or  a  ball,  which,  considering  I 
am  a  good-sized  mark  to  shoot  at,  is  something 
strange.  I  have  known  a  great  many  men  who,  as 
General  Scott  said  of  General  Johnston,  had  an  "un- 
fortunate knack"  of  getting  wounded  in  every  fight 
they  went  into,  but  I  have  not  been  one  of  that  sort. 
They  say  those  who  are  born  to  be  hung  won't  be 
shot  or  drowned,  and  perhaps  that  may  account  for  it. 

But  I  am  flying  off  from  my  story  before  I  have 
fairly  commenced  it.  We  had  been  traveling  hard  ever 
since  1 2  o'clock  at  night,  in  order  to  make  the  water- 
ing-place at  Devil's  River,  where  I  intended  to  "noon 
It"  and  graze  our  aminals  for  two  or  three  hours. 
After  daylight  I  noticed  several  "Indian  smokes" 
rising  up  and  disappearing;  but  apparently  they  were 
a  long  ways  off,  and  once  we  passed  a  considerable 
"trail,"  where  at  least  fifteen  or  twenty  horses  had 
crossed  the  road.  Altogether,  I  did  n't  like  the  sign, 
and  I  told  the  boys  to  keep  a  bright  look  out,  as  I 
felt  sure  the  Indians  were  hatching  some  devilment 


72  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

for  our  benefit.  However,  we  reached  the  "water- 
hole"  in  safety  about  noon,  watered  all  our  animals, 
and  hobbled  them  out  to  graze.  I  had  eight  men  with 
me,  most  of  them  old  frontiersmen,  who  had  seen 
much  service,  and  were  as  good  fighters  (with  one 
exception)  as  ever  drew  a  bead  upon  an  Indian,  for  I 
had  seen  them  tried  on  several  occasions  before. 

Near  the  watering-place  there  was  about  a  quarter 
of  an  acre  of  very  thick  chaparral,  and  after  we  had 
taken  a  bite  to  eat,  I  told  the  boys  to  drag  the  coach 
up  to  the  edge  of  it,  and  that  they  could  then  spread 
down  their  blankets  and  take  a  "snooze,"  for  they  had 
been  up  all  the  night  before,  and  were  pretty  well  "beat 
out."  I  was  considerably  "fagged"  myself,  but  some- 
how, although  I  had  seen  nothing  in  particular  to  ex- 
cite my  suspicions  since  we  stopped  at  the  watering- 
place,  I  felt  uneasy,  and  determined  to  keep  watch 
while  the  balance  slept. 

If  there  had  been  nothing  else,  the  appearance  of 
the  country  around  our  encampment  was  enough 
to  make  one  uneasy,  for  it  had  a  real  "Inginy  look" 
—  broken  rocky  hills,  covered  here  and  there  with 
clumps  of  thorny  shrubs  and  stunted  cedars,  and 
little  narrow  valleys  or  caiions  between  them,  in 
which  there  was  nothing  but  a  few  patches  of 
withered  grass,  from  which  our  poor  animals  were 
picking  a  scanty  repast.  On  all  sides  these  rugged, 
rocky  hills  shut  in  the  little  canon  where  we  were  en- 
camped; so  that  we  could  see  but  a  short  distance  in 
any  direction.  I  picked  up  my  rifle  and  walked  off  to 
a  little  knoll  about  fifty  or  sixty  yards  to  the  right  of 
our  encampment,  from  which  the  best  view  could  be 
had  of  the  approach  of  an  enemy,  where  I  seated  my- 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  73 

self,  resolved  that  I  would  watch  everything  closely 
that  looked  at  all  suspicious. 

I  don't  know  how  it  is  with  others,  but  with  me 
there  are  times  when  I  feel  low-spirited  and  depressed, 
without  being  able  to  account  for  it,  and  so  it  was  on 
this  occasion.  The  breeze  rustled  with  a  melancholy 
sound  through  the  dead  grass  and  stunted  bushes 
around  me,  and  the  howling  of  the  solitary  cayote 
among  the  hills  appeared  to  me  unusually  mournful. 
Nothing  else  could  be  heard  except  the  snoring  of 
Ben  Wade  in  camp,  who  was  one  of  the  most  provi- 
dent men,  where  eating  and  sleeping  were  concerned, 
I  ever  met  with.  Ben's  motto  was,  '^Never  refuse  to 
eat  or  sleep  when  you  are  on  the  'plains,'  if  you  should 
have  a  chance  forty  times  a  day,  for  you  can't  tell 
how  soon  the  time  may  come  when  you  will  have  to 
go  forty  days  without  any  chance  at  all.  In  that  way," 
says  Ben,  "you  can  keep  up  and  stand  the  racket  a 
good  while."  Ben  was  n't  like  a  good  many  people  I 
have  known,  whose  preaching  and  practice  did  n't 
agree;  he  was  always  on  hand  when  there  was  any- 
thing to  eat,  and  the  minute  he  was  off  guard,  you 
might  hear  him  snoring  like  a  wild  mule. 

One  night,  when  Ben  and  I  were  on  a  spying  ex- 
pedition in  one  of  the  Waco  villages,  the  dogs  discov- 
ered us,  and  soon  roused  the  whole  tribe  with  their 
barking.  In  a  little  while,  the  warriors  began  to  pour 
out  of  their  lodges,  with  their  bows  and  arrows  in  their 
hands,  and  we  concluded  we  could  find  a  healthier 
locality  a  few  miles  off,  and  made  tracks  for  the  bot- 
tom timber,  about  two  miles  from  the  village.  But 
just  as  we  were  passing  the  last  lodge,  Ben  discovered 


74  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

a  side  of  buffalo  ribs  roasting  before  a  fire  in  front 
of  it. 

"Cap,"  says  he,  "let's  stop  and  take  a  bite;  there's 
no  telling  when  we  may  get  another  chance,"  and  at 
that  very  minute  we  could  hear  the  red  devils  yelling 
behind  us  like  a  pack  of  hungry  wolves. 

"Well,"  said  I,  "Ben,  if  you  are  willing  to  sell  your 
scalp  for  a  'mess  of  pottage,'  you  can  stop,  but  I  set  a 
higher  price  on  mine,  and  can't  tarry  just  now." 

"But,"  says  he,  "Cap,  it's  a  rule  I've  always  stuck 
to,  never  to  let  slip  a  chance  of  taking  a  bite  when  I'm 
'on  the  war-path,'  and  I  don't  like  to  break  through  it 
this  late  in  the  day." 

Seeing  I  made  no  signs  of  stopping,  for  some  of  the 
Indians  were  then  within  a  hundred  yards  of  us, 
screeching  like  so  many  catamounts,  he  said : 

"If  you  won't  wait,  I  must  take  the  ribs  along  with 
me,"  and  I  wish  I  may  be  cut  up  into  bait  for  mud  cats 
if  he  did  n't  grab  them  up  and  sling  them  over  his 
shoulder,  though  half  a  dozen  of  the  foremost  In- 
dians were  in  sight  of  us. 

Ben  and  I  were  both  pretty  hard  to  beat  in  a  foot- 
race at  that  time,  but  for  about  a  mile  and  a  half,  the 
Indians  compelled  us  to  put  in  our  best  licks  to  keep 
ahead  of  them :  still  the  darkness  of  night  was  in  our 
favor,  and  we  got  safely  into  the  bottom.  As  soon  as 
I  thought  we  were  out  of  immediate  danger,  I  stopped 
to  catch  my  breath  a  little,  and  said  to  Ben : 

"Ben,  as  you  would  bring  those  ribs  along,  I  be- 
lieve I'll  take  one  of  them  now.  My  run  has  given 
me  an  appetite." 

"I'hi  sorry,"  says  he,  "Cap,  but  you  spoke  too 
late;  I've  polished  them  all." 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  75 

And,  if  you'll  believe  me,  it  was  a  fact !  While  wc 
were  running  for  dear  life,  with  a  dozen  red  devils 
screeching  after  us,  Ben  had  picked  the  ribs  as  clean 
of  meat  as  the  ivory-handle  of  my  six-shooter. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  Ben  was  as  true  blue  as 
ever  fluttered,  and  would  do  to  "tie  to"  when  danger 
was  about.  Feeling  pretty  sure  that  it  was  about  now, 
though  I  did  not  know  exactly  why,  I  determined  to 
go  and  wake  Ben  up,  and  get  him  to  help  me  bring 
in  the  horses  and  mules.  Just  at  I  came  to  this  con- 
clusion, I  saw  one  of  the  horses  raise  up  his  head  and 
look  for  a  long  time  in  a  certain  direction,  and  a  few 
minutes  afterward  a  deer  came  running  by  as  if  it  had 
been  frightened  by  something  behind  it.  I  waited  long 
enough  to  see  that  no  wolves  were  after  it,  and  then 
hurried  to  the  camp  and  gave  Ben  a  shake  by  the 
shoulders. 

"Get  up,  Ben,"  said  I,  in  a  low  voice,  for  I  did  n't 
want  to  wake  up  the  other  boys. 

"Hello!"  said  he,  raising  himself  up  with  one 
hand  and  rubbing  his  eyes  with  the  other. — "Hello, 
Cap,  what's  the  matter?   Dinner  ready?" 

*'No,"  I  replied,  "you  cormorant,  it  has  n't  been 
half  an  hour  since  you  ate  dinner  enough  for  six  men. 
Get  up  and  help  me  bring  in  the  horses." 

"Injins  about?"  says  Ben. 

"I  have  n't  seen  any  yet,"  I  said,  "but  they  are 
about  here,  certain." 

"Why,  Cap,"  said  he,  "if  I  did  not  know  you  so 
well,  I  should  think  you  were  a  little  too  cautious; 
but  if  you  say  fetch  in  the  horses,  here  goes." 

And  between  us  we  brought  them  all  in,  and  tied 


^6  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

them  securely  In  the  chaparral,  without  waking  up 
any  of  the  other  boys. 

After  we  had  got  them  all  well  fastened,  Ben  laid 
down  again  to  finish  his  nap,  but  had  scarcely  coiled 
Himself  in  his  blanket  when  he  sprang  up  as  suddenly 
as  if  a  stinging  lizard  had  popped  him. 

"Crackey !"  says  he,  ''Cap,  they  are  coming!  I  hear 
their  horses'  feet!" 

I  listened  attentively,  and  sure  enough,  I  could  hear 
the  sound  of  horses'  feet  clattering  on  the  rocky 
ground,  and  the  next  minute  we  saw  twenty-three  Co- 
manche warriors  coming  as  fast  as  their  horses  could 
bring  them  right  for  our  camp. 


CHAPTER  XV 

A  Warm  Reception — "Fire  and   Fall  Back" — Hot  Work — A 
Natural  Coward — Four  at  a  Shot — Lassoing  Dead  Indians. 

IN  an  instant  we  had  roused  up  the  boys,  and  were 
ready  for  them.  They  evidently  expected  to  take 
us  by  surprise,  for  they  never  checked  their  horses 
until  they  had  charged  up  within  a  few  feet  of  the 
chaparral  in  which  we  were  posted,  and  began  to  pour 
in  their  "dogwood  switches"  as  thick  as  hail.  But  we 
returned  the  compliment  so  effectually  with  our  rifles 
and  six-shooters,  that  they  soon  fell  back,  taking  off 
with  them  four  of  their  warriors  that  had  been 
"emptied"  from  their  saddles.  They  wounded  one  of 
our  men  named  Fry,  but  not  badly,  and  killed  a  pack- 
mule. 

The  Indians  went  off  out  of  sight  behind  a  hill,  and 
most  of  the  boys  supposed  that  they  had  left  for  good, 
but  I  told  them  they  were  mistaken,  and  that  we 
should  have  a  lively  time  of  it  yet;  that  the  Indians 
had  only  gone  off  to  dismount,  and  would  come  back 
again  soon  and  give  us  another  "turn."  And  so  it 
turned  out,  for  we  had  scarcely  got  our  guns  and  pis- 
tols loaded  again  when  they  rose  up  all  around  the  lit- 
tle thicket  in  which  we  were,  yelling  and  screeching  as 
if  they  thought  we  were  a  set  of  "green-horns"  that 
could  be  frightened  by  a  noise. 

But  I  saw  plainly  they  were  in  earnest  this  time,  and 
told  Ben  Wade  to  take  three  of  the  boys  and  keep 
them  off  from  the  far  side  of  the  thicket,  while  I  kept 
them  at  bay  with  the  rest  from  the  side  next  the  coach. 


78  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

We  both  had  our  hands  full,  I  can  tell  you.  I  rather 
think  we  must  have  killed  some  noted  warrior  in  the 
first  charge  they  made  upon  us,  and  that  they  were 
bent  on  having  revenge,  for  I  never  saw  the  red  ras- 
cals come  up  to  the  "scratch"  so  boldly  before.  Three 
or  four  times  they  charged  us  with  great  spirit,  and 
once  they  got  right  among  us,  so  that  it  was  a  hand- 
to-hand  fight;  but  the  boys  never  flinched,  and  poured 
the  six-shooter  bullets  into  them  so  fast  that  they 
could  n't  stand  it  long,  and  retreated  once  more  out  of 
sight  behind  the  hills. 

During  the  time  the  Indians  were  charging  on  us 
so  fiercely,  I  saw  one  of  my  men  skulking  behind  a 
bunch  of  prickly-pear.  I  won't  mention  his  name,  for 
the  poor  fellow  could  n't  help  being  afraid  any  more 
than  he  could  help  feeling  cold  when  a  hard  "norther" 
was  blowing. 

"Come  out  of  that,"  said  I,  "and  stand  up  and  fight 
like  a  man." 

"Cap,"  said  he,  "I  would  if  I  could,  but  I  can't 
stand  it." 

I  saw  by  the  way  his  lips  quivered  and  his  hands 
shook  that  he  told  the  truth,  so  I  said,  for  I  really  felt 
sorry  for  him : 

"Well,  stay  there,  then,  if  you  must,  and  I'll  say 
nothing  about  it." 

But  some  of  the  other  boys  noticed  him  too,  and  I 
actually  believe,  if  I  had  not  interfered,  they  would 
have  shot  him  after  the  fight  was  over,  and  I  might 
just  as  well  have  let  them,  for  the  poor  fellow  had  no 
peace  of  his  life  after  that. 

I  have  seen  two  or  three  men  in  the  course  of  my 
life  who  were  naturally  "scary-like,"  and  they  could 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  79 

n't  help  it,  any  more  than  they  could  help  having 
bandy  legs  or  a  snub  nose.  They  were  made  that  way 
from  the  jump,  and  they  are  more  to  be  pitied  than 
blamed.  You  might  just  as  well  blame  a  man  because 
he  is  n't  as  smart  as  Henry  Clay,  as  because  he  is  n't 
as  brave  as  Julius  Caesar.  However,  it  is  mighty  ag- 
gravating to  have  them  act  in  that  way  when  the  ser- 
vice of  every  one  is  needed,  as  it  was  on  that  occasion. 
And,  after  all,  they  are  generally  more  unlucky  than 
those  who  are  braver  and  expose  themselves.  With 
the  exception  of  Fry,  this  man  was  the  only  one  in  the 
crowd  that  was  wounded.  An  arrow  went  through 
his  arm  and  pinned  him  hard  and  fast  to  the  prickly- 
pear  behind  which  he  was  skulking. 

After  the  Indians  had  retreated  the  second  time, 
the  boys  concluded,  of  course,  that  they  had  given  up 
all  idea  of  attacking  us  again,  but  I  told  them  that  I 
did  n't  think  so ;  that  I  thought  they  would  wait  for 
us  to  make  a  start,  when  they  intended  pouncing  upon 
us  at  some  place  where  we  could  get  no  shelter. 

"But,"  said  I,  "boys,  we  can  soon  satisfy  ourselves 
about  this,"  and  I  ordered  every  man  to  take  his  gun 
and  lie  flat  down  under  the  coach,  and  keep  perfectly 
quiet.  The  boys  had  begun  to  get  a  little  tired  of  this 
position  (except  Ben,  who  was  fast  asleep)  when  sud- 
denly we  saw  an  Indian  cautiously  poke  his  head  out 
of  the  chaparral,  about  seventy  yards  from  where  we 
were  lying.  He  looked  for  a  long  time  toward  us,  and 
seeing  no  one  moving  he  ventured  out,  and  stood 
straight  up,  to  have  a  better  view. 

"Don't  fire  at  him  boys,"  I  said;  "there  will  be 
some  more  of  them  directly,  and  we  may  get  two  or 
three." 


8o  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

In  a  little  while,  another  Indian  stepped  out  by  the 
side  of  the  first,  and  then  another  and  another,  until 
Hve  of  them  were  standing  side  by  side,  all  looking 
intently  toward  the  coach,  and  wondering,  I  suppose, 
what  had  become  of  us. 

''Now  score  'em,  boys,"  says  I,  and  we  let  them 
have  it. 

Four  fell  dead  at  the  crack  of  our  guns,  and  the 
fifth  scrambled  back  into  the  chaparral  as  fast  as  if 
he  had  had  a  heavy  bet  on  doing  it  inside  of  a  second. 

I  told  the  boys  to  load  up  again  as  quick  as  possi- 
ble, for  that  more  of  them  would  be  sure  to  come  out 
to  take  off  the  dead  ones ;  but  I  made  a  miscalculation 
this  time  to  a  certainty.  Not  a  thing  could  be  seen  or 
heard  for  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes,  when  all  at  once 
we  saw  an  arm  rise  up  out  of  the  bushes  on  the  edge 
of  the  chaparral,  and  make  a  sort  of  motion,  and  the 
next  instant  one  of  the  dead  Indians  was  ''snaked" 
into  the  thicket ;  and  I  wish  I  may  be  kicked  to  death 
by  grasshoppers,  if  they  did  n't  rope  every  one  of 
them  and  drag  'em  off  in  that  way,  and  we  could  never 
see  a  thing  except  that  Indian's  arm,  motioning  back- 
ward and  forward  as  he  threw  the  lasso. 

"Boys,"  says  I,  "that  gets  me !  I  have  been  in  a  good 
many  'scrimmages'  with  the  Indians,  but  I  never  saw 
them  'snake  off'  their  dead  in  that  way  before.  How- 
ever," I  continued,  "it  shows  they  've  had  enough  of 
the  fight,  and  I  think  now  we  may  venture  to  make  a 
start,  without  any  fear  of  being  attacked  by  them 
again."  But  there  was  new  danger  ahead,  as  you 
will  soon  see. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

More  Comanches  on  the  War-Track — Keeping  a  Stiff  Upper 

Lip — On  a  False  Trail — Ben  Wade  Wants  His  Dinner — 

"Mr.  John"  Outwitted. 

WHILE  the  boys  were  harnessing  up,  I  took 
my  rifle  and  stepped  out  a  short  distance 
to  reconnoitre,  and  well  for  us  that  I  did, 
for  on  reaching  the  top  of  the  little  "rise"  where  I 
had  first  taken  my  stand,  I  saw  and  counted  forty 
warriors  coming  down  a  canon  not  more  than  four 
hundred  yards  off.  I  was  satisfied  it  was  not  the  same 
party  we  had  been  fighting,  but  a  reinforcement  com- 
ing to  their  assistance.  They  rode  slowly  along  di- 
rectly toward  me,  and  when  within  about  one  hundred 
yards  of  me,  I  rose  up  from  where  I  was  sitting 
and  showed  myself  to  them.  They  halted  instantly, 
and  one  of  them,  who  I  supposed  was  the  chief,  rode 
thirty  or  forty  yards  in  advance  of  the  rest,  and  in  a 
loud  voice  asked  me  in  Mexican  (which  most  of  the 
Comanches  speak)  what  we  were  doing  there? 

There  is  nothing  like  keeping  a  *'stiff  upper  lip" 
and  showing  a  bold  front,  when  you  have  to  do  with 
Indians ;  so  I  told  him  we  had  been  fighting  Coman- 
ches, and  that  we  had  flogged  them  genteelly,  too ! 

'*Yes,"  said  he,  "  you  are  a  set  of  sneaking  cayotes, 
and  are  afraid  to  come  out  of  the  brush.  You  are 
afraid  to  travel  the  road.  You  are  all  squaws  and  you 
don't  dare  to  poke  your  noses  out  of  the  chaparral." 

"If  you  will  wait  till  we  eat  our  dinner,"  I  an- 
swered, "Fll  show  you  whether  we  are  afraid  to  travel 


82  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

the  road.  We  shall  camp  at  the  California  Springs 
to-night,  in  spite  of  the  whole  Comanche  nation !" 

And  with  this  I  turned  around  and  walked  slowly 
back  to  the  coach,  as  if  I  did  n't  think  they  were  worth 
bothering  about  any  further. 

I  was  satisfied  if  I  could  only  make  them  believe  we 
had  no  fear  of  them,  and  that  we  would  take  the  road 
again  that  evening  for  the  California  Springs,  they 
would  hurry  on  there  for  the  purpose  of  waylaying  us 
at  that  place;  and  so  it  turned  out,  for  they  imme- 
diately put  off  for  the  Springs,  eight  miles  distant, 
leaving  only  three  warriors  behind  to  watch  our 
motions. 

When  I  got  back  to  the  coach  I  told  the  boys  what 
I  had  said  to  the  Indians,  and  that  I  had  no  doubt 
they  would  hurry  off  to  California  Springs,  wjth 
the  intention  of  waylaying  us  there,  and  that  when  I 
thought  they  had  had  time  enough  to  make  the  dis- 
tance, we  would  put  out  and  take  the  back  track  to 
Fort  Clarke. 

"They  are  too  strong  for  us  now,  boys,"  said  I, 
"for  they  have  had  a  reinforcement  of  forty  warriors, 
and  they  will  fight  like  mad,  to  revenge  the  death  of 
those  we  have  killed.'' 

"Cap,"  said  Ben  Wade,  "I  heard  you  make  one 
sensible  remark  to  that  Indian  you  were  talking  with." 

"What  was  that?"  I  asked. 

"Why,"  says  Ben,  "you  told  him  as  soon  as  we  got 
some  dinner  we  would  go  to  the  California  Springs, 
in  spite  of  the  whole  Comanche  nation." 

'^Yes,"  I  said,  "I  told  him  that  because  I  wanted 
him  to  think  we  were  delaying  here  of  our  own  accord, 
and  not  because  we  were  afraid  of  him  anH  his  war- 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  83 

riors,  and   I   believe  they  have  gone  off  under   that 
impression." 

*'It  was  a  pretty  smart  dodge  in  you,  Cap,  to  put 
'em  on  the  wrong  scent  in  that  way,  I'll  admit,  but 
you  see,  as  we  may  not  be  able  to  get  to  California 
Springs  after  all,  and  we  can  get  dinner,  we  had  bet- 
ter make  sure  of  doing  what  is  in  our  power ;  besides. 
Cap,"  he  continued,  hauling  out  a  chunk  of  venison 
and  some  hard-tack  from  his  wallet,  "they  have  prob- 
ably left  a  spy  to  watch  us,  and  I'll  'make  pretend'  to 
eat  a  bite,  so  he  won't  have  any  reason  to  think  we 
are  'throwing  off'  on  them." 

"There  '11  be  no  danger  of  that  Ben,"  said  I,  "if 
he^s  where  he  can  get  a  good  look  at  you.  There's  no 
'throw  off'  in  you  when  eating  and  sleeping  is  to  be 
done." 

"Nor  fighting  cither,"  he  said.  "If  I  hadn't  shot 
that  Indian  on  the  last  charge  they  made  on  us,  just 
as  he  was  drawing  his  bow  on  you,  not  six  feet  off, 
you  would  have  had  a  quill  sticking  out  of  your  back 
now  as  long  as  a  porcupine's." 

"That's  a  fact,  Ben,"  I  rephed,  "and  it  isn't  the 
first  time  you  have  done  me  a  good  turn  in  that  way, 
and  I  ain't  the  man  to  forget  it ;  and  when  we  get  back 
to  Fort  Clarke,  I  will  stop  over  a  day,  just  to  give  you 
a  fair  chance  to  lay  in  a  good  supply  of  provender." 

Ben  was  "mollified,"  and  as  soon  as  he  had  finished 
the  venison  and  hard-tack  he  tumbled  over  on  his 
blanket,  and  was  fast  asleep  in  two  minutes. 

After  waiting  about  half  an  hour  longer,  we  took 
the  road  back  to  Fort  Clarke,  instead  of  going  on  to 
the  Springs,  and  traveled  as  rapidly  as  we  could  urge 
on  the  animals.  Just  as  we  started,  we  saw  two  of  the 


84  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

warriors  that  had  been  left  behind  to  watch  our  move- 
ments put  off  at  full  speed  toward  the  Springs,  no 
doubt  with  the  intention  of  letting  the  Indians  know 
we  were  taking  the  back  track.  The  other — for  they 
had  left  three  behind — ^followed  on  after  us  at  a  safe 
distance  from  our  rifles,  for  seven  or  eight  miles,  when 
we  lost  sight  of  him. 

We  had  so  much  the  start  of  the  Indians,  and  the 
road  was  so  firm  and  good,  and  we  rattled  along  at 
such  a  rate,  they  had  no  chance  to  overtake,  even  if 
they  pursued  us,  which  I  suppose  they  did.  At  any  rate, 
we  saw  nothing  more  of  them,  and  the  next  morning 
reached  Fort  Clarke  safely,  where  our  wounded  men 
were  taken  care  of.  We  had  outwitted  "Mr.  John" 
completely. 

The  commandant  at  Fort  Clarke  furnished  us  with 
an  escort  of  twelve  men  and  a  sergeant,  and  we  made 
the  trip  back  to  San  Antonio  without  any  further 
trouble  from  the  Indians  at  that  time. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

A  Night  Visit  From  the  Indians — Afoot,  and  Ten  Miles  to 
Travel — On  the  Trail — A  Curious  Specimen. 


o 


ID  I  ever  tell  you,  asked  Big-Foot,  about  a 
curious  sort  of  character  I  fell  in  with  at  the 
"Zumwalt  Settlement,"  on  the  La  Vaca,  a 
year  or  so  after  I  came  out  to  Texas?  I  have  met  with 
many  a  good  honest  hater  in  my  time,  but  this  fellow 
hated  Indians  with  such  a  "vim"  that  he  hadn't  room 
left  even  for  an  appetite  for  his  food.  But  he  had  a 
good  reason  for  it  and  if  they  had  served  me  as  they 
did  him,  I  am  afraid  I  should  have  taken  to  scalping 
Indians  myself  for  a  liveHhood,  instead  of  being  satis- 
fied with  "upping"  one  now  and  then  in  a  fair  fight. 

A  party  of  eight  of  us  had  been  out  on  an  explor- 
ing expedition  to  the  Nueces  River,  which  was  then 
almostunknown  to  the  Americans,  and  the  night  we  got 
back  to  the  La  Vaca  we  encamped  on  its  western  bank, 
and  all  went  to  sleep  without  the  usual  precaution  of 
putting  out  a  guard,  thinking  we  were  near  enough  to 
the  settlements  to  be  safe  from  the  attacks  of  Indians. 
I  told  the  boys  I  thought  we  were  running  a  great  risk 
in  not  having  any  guard  out,  as  I  had  already  found 
that  when  you  least  expected  to  meet  up  with  Indians, 
there  they  were  sure  to  be ;  but  the  boys  were  all  tired 
with  their  long  day's  ride,  and  said  they  did  n't  think 
there  was  any  danger,  and  if  there  was  they  were 
willing  to  take  the  chances.  So,  after  we  had  got  some 
supper  and  staked  our  horses,  we  wrapped  our  blan- 


86  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

kets  around  us,  and,  as  I  have  said  before,  were  all 
soon  fast  asleep. 

I  was  the  first  one  to  rouse  up,  about  daylight  the 
next  morning,  and,  looking  in  the  direction  we  had 
staked  our  horses,  I  discovered  that  they  were  all  gone. 
I  got  up  quietly,  without  waking  any  of  the  boys,  and 
went  out  to  reconnoitre  the  ''sign."  I  had  gone  but  a 
little  ways  on  the  prairie  when  I  picked  up  an  arrow, 
and  a  few  yards  farther  on,  I  came  across  one  of  our 
horses  lying  dead  on  the  grass,  with  a  dozen  "dog- 
wood switches"  sticking  in  various  parts  of  his  body. 
This  satisfied  me  at  once  that  "Mr.  John"  had  paid 
us  a  sociable  visit  during  the  night,  and,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  one  they  had  killed  (he  was  an  unruly 
beast) ,  had  carried  off  all  our  stock  when  they  left. 

I  went  back  to  camp  and  stirred  up  the  boys,  and 
gave  them  the  pleasing  information  that  we  were  ten 
miles  from  "wood  and  water"  and  "flat  afoot."  But 
there  was  no  use  in  crying  over  the  matter,  so  we  held 
a  "council  of  war"  as  to  what  was  the  best  to  be  done 
under  the  circumstances;  that  is,  flat  afoot,  with  all 
our  guns,  saddles,  bridles,  and  other  equipment  on 
Band,  and  ten  miles  to  the  nearest  settlement.  At 
length,  it  was  decided  that  each  man  should  shoulder 
his  own  "plunder,"  or  leave  it  behind,  as  he  preferred, 
and  that  we  should  take  a  "bee-line"  to  the  "Zum- 
walt  Settlement"  above  the  river,  borrow  horses  if  we 
could,  follow  the  Indians,  and  endeavor  to  get  back 
from  them  those  they  had  stolen  from  us.  So  we  took 
a  hasty  snack,  and,  each  man  shouldering  his  pack,  we 
put  out  on  a  "dog-trot"  for  the  settlement. 

It  was  a  pretty  fatiguing  tramp,  hampered  as  we 
were  with  our  guns  and  rigging,  but  we  made  it  in 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  87 

good  time.  Fortunately  for  us,  a  man  had  just  come 
into  the  settlement,  from  the  Rio  Grande,  with  a 
large  '^caballado,"  (drove  of  horses),  and  when  we 
made  known  our  situation  to  him,  he  told  us  to  go  into 
the  corral  and  select  any  of  the  horses  we  wanted. 
They  were  only  about  half  broke,  and  it  took  us  fully 
an  hour  to  catch,  bridle,  and  saddle  them,  and  fifteen 
minutes  more  to  get  on  their  backs.  I  was  more  lucky 
than  most  of  the  boys,  for  I  only  got  two  kicks  and  a 
bite  before  I  mounted  mine. 

When  all  was  ready,  we  put  spurs  to  our  steeds  and 
galloped  back  to  our  encampment  of  the  night  pre- 
vious, where  our  horses  had  been  stolen,  and  took  the 
Indian  trail,  which  was  plainly  visible  in  the  rank 
grass  that  grew  at  that  day  along  the  bottoms  of  the 
river.  Several  men  belonging  to  the  settlement  had 
volunteered  to  accompany  us,  so  that  our  number 
(rank,  but  not  file,  for  we  were  all  colonels,  majors 
or  captains,  except  one  chap,  who  was  a  judge) 
amounted  to  thirteen  men,  well  armed  and  mounted. 

As  long  as  the  Indians  kept  to  the  valley  we  had  no 
trouble  in  following  the  trail,  and  pushed  on  as  rap- 
idly as  we  could.  When  we  had  travelled  perhaps 
eight  or  ten  miles,  I  had  to  halt  and  dismount  for  the 
purpose  of  fixing  my  girth,  which  by  some  means  had 
become  unfastened.  While  I  was  engaged  at  this,  I 
heard  the  tramp  of  a  horse's  hoofs  behind  me,  and 
looking  back  the  way  we  had  come,  I  saw  a  man  rid- 
ing up  rapidly  on  our  trail.  When  he  got  up  to  where 
I  was  he  reined  in  his  horse,  evidently  intending  to 
wait  for  me,  and  I  had  a  chance  of  observing  as 
curious  a  looking  "specimen"  as  I  ever  saw  before  in 
any  country.  He  was  a  tall,  spare-built  chap,  dressed  in 


88  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

buckskin  hunting-shirt  and  leggings,  with  a  coonskin 
cap  on;  a  long,  old-fashioned  flint-and-steel  Kentucky 
rifle  on  his  shoulder,  and  a  tomahawk  and  scalping- 
knife  stuck  in  his  belt.  His  hair  was  matted  together, 
and  hung  around  his  neck  in  great  uncombed  "swabs," 
and  his  eyes  peere'd  out  from  among  it  as  bright  as  a 
couple  of  mesquite  coals.  I  have  seen  all  sorts  of  eyes, 
of  panthers,  wolves,  catamounts,  leopards,  and  Mex- 
ican lions,  but  I  never  saw  eyes  that  glittered,  and 
flashed,  and  danced  about  like  those  in  that  man's 
head.  He  was  mounted  on  a  raw-boned,  vicious- 
looking  horse,  with  an  exceedingly  heavy  mane  and 
tail ;  but  notwithstanding  his  looks,  any  one  could  see, 
with  half  an  eye,  that  he  had  a  great  deal  of  "let  out" 
in  him  on  a  pinch. 

As  soon  as  I  had  patched  up  my  girth,  I  mounted 
my  horse  again,  and  rode  along  sociably  with  this 
curious  specimen  for  a  mile  or  so,  without  a  word 
passing  between  us;  but  I  got  tired  of  this,  and,  al- 
though I  felt  a  little  "skittish"  of  this  strange-looking 
animal,  I  at  length  made  a  "pass  at  him,"  and  in- 
quired if  he  was  a  stranger  in  these  parts. 

"Not  exactly,"  said  he.  "I  have  been  about  here 
*off  and  on'  for  the  last  three  years,  and  I  know  every 
trail  and  'water-hole'  from  this  to  the  Rio  Grande, 
especially  those  that  are  used  much  by  the  Indians 
going  and  coming. 

"And  ain't  you  afraid,"  I  asked,  "to  travel  about 
so  much  in  this  country  alone?" 

He  grinned  a  sort  of  sickly  smile,  and  his  fingers 
clutched  the  handle  of  his  tomahawk,  and  his  eyes 
danced  a  perfect  jig  in  his  head. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  9 1 

"No,"  he  answered;  "the  Indians  are  more  afraid 
of  me  than  I  am  of  them.  If  they  knew  I  was  way- 
laying a  particular  trail,  they  would  go  forty  miles 
out  of  their  way  to  give  me  a  wide  berth;  but  the 
trouble  is,  they  never  know  where  to  find  me.  And, 
besides,"  he  continued,  "the  best  horse  this  side  of 
the  Brazos  can't  come  alongside  of 'Pepper- Pod' when 
I  want  him  to  work  in  the  lead." 

As  he  said  this,  he  touched  up  Pepper-Pod  smartly 
with  his  spurs,  who  gave  a  vicious  plunge,  and  started 
off  like  a  "shot  out  of  a  shovel."  But  he  soon  reined 
him  up,  and  we  rode  on  together  again  in  silence  for 
some  time.    Finally,  I  said  to  him : 

"Man  of  family,  I  suppose?" 

Gracious !  if  a  ten-pound  howitzer  had  been  fired 
off  just  then  at  my  ear,  I  could  n't  have  been  more 
astonished  than  I  was  at  this  chap's  actions.  He 
turned  pale,  and  his  lips  quivered,  and  he  fumbled 
with  the  handle  of  his  butcher-knife,  and  his  eyes 
looked  like  two  lightning-bugs  in  a  dark  night.  He 
did  n't  answer  me  for  a  while,  but  at  length  he  said : 

"No,  I  have  no  family  now.  Ten  years  ago,  I  had 
a  wife  and  three  little  boys,  but  the  Indians  murdered 
them  all  in  cold  blood.  I  have  got  a  few  of  them  for 
it,  though,"  he  went  on,  "and  if  I  am  spared,  I'll  get 
a  few  more  before  I  die;"  and  as  he  said  this  he 
clicked  the  triggers  of  his  rifle,  and  pushed  the 
butcher-knife  up  and  down  in  its  scabbard,  his  eyes 
danced  in  his  head  worse  than  ever,  and  he  gave 
Pepper-Pod  another  dig  in  the  ribs,  who  reared  and 
plunged  in  a  way  that  would  have  emptied  any  one 
out  of  the  saddle,  except  a  number-one  rider. 


92  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

After  a  while,  he  and  Pepper-Pod  both  quieted 
down  a  little,  and  he  said  to  me : 

"You  mustn't  think  strange  of  me.  I  always  get 
in  these  'flurries'  when  I  think  of  the  way  the  Indians 
murdered  my  poor  wife  and  my  little  boys.  But  I  will 
tell  you  my  story. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

Story  of  the  Indian-Hater — The  Move  From  Kentucky — New 
Home  in  Texas — Wife  and  Children  Murdered  by  the 
Indians — Terrible  Revenge — A  Dangerous  Com- 
panion— The  Indian  Camp. 


T 


)A]J^EN  years  ago,"  said  the  strange-looking  man, 
''I  was  as  happy  a  man  as  any  in  the  world; 
but  now  I  am  miserable  except  when  I  am 
waylaying  or  shooting  or  scalping  an  Indian.  It's  the 
only  comfort  I  have  now. 

*'I  had  a  small  farm  in  Kentucky,  not  far  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Beech  Fork,  and  though  we  had  no 
money,  we  lived  happily  and  comfortably,  and  had 
nothing  to  fear  when  we  laid  down  at  night.  But,  in 
an  unlucky  hour  for  us,  a  stranger  stopped  at  my  house 
one  day  on  his  way  to  Texas,  and  told  me  about  the 
rich  lands,  the  abundance  of  game,  and  the  many  for- 
tunes that  had  been  made  in  this  new  country.  From 
that  time  I  grew  restless  and  discontented,  and  I  deter- 
mined, as  soon  as  possible,  that  I  would  seek  my  for- 
tune in  that  'promised  land.' 

"The  next  fall  I  had  a  chance  to  sell  my  little  farm 
for  a  good  price,  and  we  moved  off  to  Texas,  and, 
after  wandering  around  for  some  time,  finally  settled 
on  the  banks  of  a  beautiful  little  stream  that  runs  into 
the  Guadalupe  River.  My  wife  had  left  Kentucky 
very  unwillingly,  but  the  lovely  spot  we  had  chosen 
for  our  home,  the  rich  lands  and  beautiful  country 
around,  and  the  mildness  of  the  climate,  at  length 
reconciled  her  to  the  move  we  had  made. 


94  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

*'One  lovely  morning  in  May,  when  the  sun  was 
shining  brightly,  and  the  birds  were  singing  in  every 
tree,  I  took  my  rifle  and  went  out  for  a  stroll  in  the 
woods.  When  I  left  the  house,  my  wife  was  at  work 
in  our  little  garden,  singing  as  gayly  as  one  of  the 
birds,  and  my  three  little  boys  were  laughing,  and 
shouting,  and  trundling  their  hoops  around  the  yard. 
That  was  the  last  time  I  ever  saw  any  of  them  alive. 
I  had  gone  perhaps  a  mile,  entirely  unsuspicious  of 
all  danger,  when  I  heard  a  dozen  guns  go  off  in  the 
direction  of  my  house.  The  idea  flashed  across  my 
mind  in  a  moment  that  the  Indians  were  murdering 
my  family,  and  I  flew  toward  the  house  with  the  speed 
of  a  frightened  deer.  From  the  direction  in  which  I 
approached  it,  it  was  hid  from  view  by  a  thick  grove 
of  elm-trees  that  grew  in  front  of  the  house.  I  hurried 
through  this,  and  rushed  into  the  open  door  of  the 
house,  and  the  first  thing  I  saw  was  the  dead  body  of 
my  poor  wife,  lying  pale  and  bloody  upon  the  floor, 
and  the  lifeless  form  of  my  youngest  boy  clasped 
tightly  in  her  arms.  She  had  evidently  tried  to  defend 
him  to  the  last.  The  two  older  boys  lay  dead  near  by, 
scalped,  and  covered  with  blood  from  their  wounds. 

"The  Indians,  who  had  left  the  house  for  some 
purpose,  at  that  instant  returned,  and,  before  they 
knew  I  was  there,  I  shot  one  through  the  heart  with 
my  rifle,  and,  drawing  my  butcher-knife,  rushed  upon 
the  balance  like  a  tiger.  There  were  at  least  a  dozen 
of  the  savages,  but  if  there  had  been  a  thousand  of 
them  it  would  have  made  no  difference  to  me,  for  I 
was  desperate  and  reckless  of  my  life,  and  thought 
only  of  avenging  the  cruel  and  cowardly  murder  of 
my  poor  wife  and  children. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  95 

"I  have  but  a  faint  recollection  of  what  happened 
after  this.  I  remember  hearing  yells  of  fright  and 
astonishment  the  Indians  gave  as  I  rushed  upon 
them,  and  that  I  cut  to  pieces  several  of  them  with 
my  butcher-knife  before  they  could  escape  through 
the  door — and  then  all  was  a  blank,  and  I  knew  noth- 
ing more.  I  suppose  some  of  those  outside  fired  upon 
me,  and  gave  me  the  wounds  that  rendered  me  sense- 
less, but  I  gave  them  such  a  scare  it  was  evident  they 
never  entered  the  house  again,  as  otherwise,  you 
know,  they  would  have  taken  my  scalp,  and  carried 
off  the  dead  Indians. 

**Some  time  during  the  day,  one  of  my  neighbors 
happened  to  pass  by  the  house,  and  noticing  the  un- 
usual silence  that  prevailed,  and  seeing  no  one  moving 
about,  he  suspected  something  was  wrong,  and  came 
in,  and  the  dreadful  sight  I  have  described  to  you  met 
his  eyes. 

"He  told  me  afterward  he  found  me  lying  on  the 
floor,  across  the  body  of  an  Indian,  still  grasping  his 
throat  with  one  hand,  and  with  the  other  the  handle 
of  my  knife,  which  was  buried  to  the  hilt  in  his  breast. 
Near  by  lay  the  bodies  of  three  other  Indians,  gashed 
and  hacked  with  the  terrible  wounds  I  had  given 
them  with  my  butcher-knife.  My  kind  neighbor,  ob- 
serving some  signs  of  life  left  in  me,  took  me  to  his 
house,  dressed  my  wounds,  and  did  all  that  he  could 
for  me. 

"For  many  days  I  lay  at  the  point  of  death,  and 
they  thought  I  would  never  get  well ;  but  gradually  my 
wounds  healed  up  and  my  strength  returned ;  although 
for  a  long  time  afterward  I  was  n't  exactly  right 
here  (tapping  his  forehead)  and  even  now  I  am  more 


g6  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

like  a  crazy  man  than  anything  else,  when  I  have  to 
go  a  long  time  without  'lifting'  the  scalp  from  the 
head  of  an  Indian;  for  then  I  always  see,  especially 
when  I  lay  down  at  night,  the  bloody  corpses  of  my 
wife  and  poor  little  boys/' 

"I  hope,  my  friend,"  I  replied,  for  I  did  n't  like 
the  way  his  eyes  danced  in  his  head,  and  the  careless 
manner  he  had  of  cocking  his  gun  and  slinging  it 
around — "I  hope  you  have  had  your  regular  rations 
lately,  and  that  you  don't  feel  disposed  to  take  a  white 
man's  scalp  when  an  Indian's  can't  be  had  handily." 

The  fellow  actually  chuckled  when  I  said  this,  the 
first  time  I  had  heard  anything  like  a  laugh  from  him. 

"Oh,  no,"  he  said;  "I  have  been  tolerably  well  sup- 
plied of  late,  and  could  get  along  pretty  comfortably 
without  a  scalp  for  a  week  or  so  yet.  I  have  forty-six 
of  them  hanging  up  now  in  my  camp  on  the  Chico- 
lite,  but  I  shan't  be  satisfied  unless  I  can  get  a  cool 
hundred  of  them  before  I  die ;  and  I  '11  have  'em,  too, 
just  as  sure  's  my  name  is  Jeff  Turner." 

Again  his  eyes  glared  out  of  his  bushy  locks,  and 
his  fingers  again  began  to  fumble  about  his  knife- 
handle,  in  a  way,  that,  if  I  had  had  a  drop  of  Indian 
blood  in  my  veins,  would  have  made  me  feel  exceed- 
ingly uneasy.  At  last,  to  change  the  subject,  I  asked 
him  which  way  he  was  traveling,  though,  of  course,  I 
knew  very  well  he  was  going  along  with  us. 

"Any  way,"  he  replied,  "that  these  Indians  go.  I  'd 
just  as  soon  go  in  one  direction  as  another.  I  always 
travel  on  the  freshest  Indian  trail  I  come  across.  You 
and  your  company  may  get  tired  and  quit  this  trail 
without  overtaking  the  Indians,  but  I  shall  stick  to  it 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  97 

until  I  get  a  scalp  or  two  to  take  back  with  me  to  my 
camp  on  the  Chicolite." 

By  this  time  we  had  come  up  with  our  companions, 
and  all  rode  on  in  silence.  At  length  we  came  to  a 
hard,  rocky  piece  of  ground,  where  the  Indians  had 
scattered;,  and  we  lost  the  trail  altogether,  for  not  the 
least  sign  was  visible  to  our  eyes.  At  that  time,  you 
see,  none  of  us  had  had  much  experience  in  the  way  of 
trailing  and  fighting  Indians,  except  Jeff  Turner,  the 
''Indian-hater." 

We  soon  discovered  that  he  knew  more  atbout  fol- 
lowing a  trail  than  all  of  us  put  together,  and  from 
this  time  on,  we  let  him  take  the  lead,  and  followed 
him  everywhere  he  went.  Sometimes,  where  the 
ground  was  very  hard  and  rocky,  and  the  Indians  had 
scattered,  he  would  hesitate  for  a  little  while  as  to 
the  course  to  pursue,  but  in  a  moment  or  so  he  was 
all  right  again,  and  off  at  such  a  rate  that  we  were 
compelled  to  travel  at  a  full  trot  to  keep  up  with  him. 

About  half  an  hour  before  sundown,  he  came  to  a 
halt,  and  when  we  had  all  gathered  around  him,  he 
told  us  to  keep  a  sharp  lookout,  and  make  no  noise,  as 
the  Indians  were  close  by;  and, in  fact, we  had  scarcely 
travelled  three  hundred  yards  farther  when  we  saw 
their  blanket  tents  on  the  edge  of  some  post-oak  tim- 
ber, about  a  quarter  or  a  mile  to  our  right.  We  put 
spurs  to  our  horses,  and  in  a  few  moments  we  were 
among  them. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

Attacking  the  Indians — Narrow  Escape — The  Indian-Hater  at 

Work — Forgot  to  Untie  His  Horse — A  Dying  Struggle — 

Worse  Scared  Than  Hurt — Dinner  Ready  Cooked — 

Return  to  the  Settlements  and  Disappearance 

of  the  Indian-Hater. 


T 


^HE  Indians  did  n't  see  us  until  we  were  with- 
in fifty  yards  of  their  encampment,  but  still 
they  had  time  to  seize  their  guns,  and  bows 
and  arrows,  and  give  us  a  volley  as  we  charged  up; 
but  luckily  no  damage  was  done  except  slightly  wound- 
ing one  of  our  horses.  We  dismounted  at  once  and 
commenced  pouring  a  deadly  fire  into  them  from  our 
rifles. 

Just  as  I  sprang  from  the  saddle  to  the  ground,  a 
big  Indian  stepped  from  behind  a  post-oak  tree  and 
drew  an  arrow  upon  me  that  looked  to  me  as  long  as 
a  barber's  pole.  I  jumped  behind  another  tree  as  spry 
as  a  city  clerk  in  a  dry-goods  store  when  a  parcel  of 
women  come  around  shopping,  and  not  much  time 
had  I  to  spare  at  that,  for  the  arrow  grazed  my  head 
so  closely  that  it  took  off  a  strip  of  bark  from  it  about 
the  width  of  one  of  my  fingers.  I  levelled  my  rifle  and 
drew  a  bead  upon  him  as  he  started  to  run,  but  his 
arrow  had  rather  unsettled  my  nerves,  and  I  missed 
him  fairly. 

The  fight  was  kept  up  pretty  hotly  on  both  sides 
for  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes,  when  the  Indians 
"soured  on  it,"  and  retreated  into  a  thick  chaparral, 
leaving  seven  of  their  warriors  dead  upon  the  ground. 

I  noticed  my  friend  Jeff  several  times  during  the 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  99 

fight,  and  each  time  he  was  engaged  In  "lifting  the 
hair"  from  the  head  of  an  Indian  that  either  he  or 
some  one  else  had  shot  down.  They  say  that  "prac- 
tice makes  perfect,"  and  it  was  astonishing  to  see  how 
quickly  Jeff  would  take  off  an  Indian  scalp  and  load 
his  rifle  in  readiness  for  another.  One  slash  with  his 
butcher-knife  and  a  sudden  jerk,  and  the  bloody  scalp 
was  soon  dangling  from  his  belt.  At  the  same  time, 
he  never  seemed  to  be  in  a  hurry,  but  was  as  cool  and 
deliberate  about  everything  he  did  as  a  carpenter 
when  he  is  working  by  the  day  and  not  by  the  job. 

When  the  Indians  began  to  retreat,  one  of  them 
jumped  on  one  of  our  horses,  (which  they  had  tied 
hard  and  fast  to  post-oaks  near  their  camp),  forget- 
ting in  his  hurry,  to  unfasten  the  rope,  and  round  and 
round  the  tree  he  went,  until  he  wound  himself  up  to 
the  body,  when  just  at  that  instant  Jeff  plugged  him 
with  a  half-ounce  bullet,  and  had  his  scalp  off  before 
he  had  done  kicking. 

After  the  Indians  had  retreated  to  the  chaparral, 
a  little  incident  occurred  that  shows  the  pluck  of  these 
red  rascals  when  they  have  been  "brought  to  bay." 
We  were  standing  all  huddled  up  together,  loading 
our  rifles,  for  we  did  not  know  but  that  the  Indians  had 
retreated  on  purpose  to  throw  us  off  our  guard,  when 
all  at  once  we  were  startled  by  a  keen  yell  and  the  fir- 
ing of  a  gun,  and  at  the  same  instant  a  tall  chap  by 

the  name  of  B ,  who  had  come  with  us  from  the 

settlements,  dropped  his  rifle,  and,  clapping  his  hands 
to  his  face,  cried  out: 

"Boys,  I  am  a  dead  man!" 

I  looked  around  to  see  from  whence  the  shot  had 
come,  and  discovered  an  Indian  lying  on  the  grass. 


I OO  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

about  thirty  yards  off,  with  his  gun  in  his  hand,  slowly 
sinking  back  upon  the  earth  again,  from  which  he  had 
partially  raised  himself  by  a  dying  effort  to  take  a  last 
pop  at  the  enemies  of  his  race.  I  had  seen  this  Indian 
fall  during  the  fight,  and  supposed,  of  course,  that  he 
was  dead — as  he  was,  in  fact,  an  instant  after  he  gave 
the  yell  and  fired  his  gun ;  for  I  went  up  immediately 
to  where  he  lay,  and  found  that  he  was  dead  as  a  door 
nail,  with  his  gun  still  tightly  clasped  in  his  hands ;  and 

yet  at  the  time  he  fired  at  B he  had  no  less  than 

seven  rifle-balls  through  various  parts  of  his  body,  for 
the  wounds  were  plainly  to  be  seen,  as  he  had  nothing 
on  to  speak  of,  except  his  powder-horn  and  shot- 
pouch. 

Our  "Indian-hater,"  Jeff,  came  up  to  him  about  the 
same  time  I  did,  and  lifted  the  hair  from  his  head  be- 
fore you  could  say  "Jack  Robinson,"  and  strung  it  on 
his  belt  to  keep  company  with  three  other  scalps  that 
were  already  dangling  from  it.  The  scalps  seemed  to 
ease  the  mind  of  Jeff  considerably,  as  he  told  me  they 
would,  and  he  got  quite  sociable  with  the  boys  after 
the  fight,  and  once  actually  laughed  outright,  when 
one  of  them  told  a  funny  story  about  shooting  at  a 
stump  three  times  for  an  Indian  before  he  discovered 
his  mistake;  but  either  the  unusual  sound  of  his  own 
laugh  frightened  him,  or  else  he  had  used  up  all  his 
stock  on  hand,  for  I  never  saw  him  crack  a  smile 
afterward. 

As  it  turned  out,  B was  worse  scared  than 

hurt,  for  the  Indian's  bullet  had  only  grazed  his  head, 
but,  striking  the  black-jack  tree  near  which  he  was 
standing,  it  had  thrown  the  rough  bark  violently  into 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  Id 

his  eyes,  the  pain  from  which  led  him  to  suppose  "he 
was  a  dead  man." 

The  Indians  had  killed  a  fat  buck,  and  when  we 
pounced  upon  them  they  had  the  choice  pieces  spitted 
before  the  fire,  and  after  the  fight  we  found  them 
"done  to  a  turn."  We  hadn't  eaten  a  bite  all  day, 
and  seized  upon  the  venison  as  the  lawful  spoils  of 
war,  and  made  a  hearty  supper  upon  it,  together  with 
some  hard-tack  which  we  had  brought  along  with  us 
in  our  haversacks.  While  I  was  eating  supper,  I 
could  n't  help  feeling  a  little  sorry  for  the  poor  crea- 
tures who  had  cooked  it  only  an  hour  before,  and  who 
were  now  lying  around  us  cold  and  stiff  on  the  damp 
grass  of  the  prairie,  so  soon  to  be  devoured  by  vul- 
tures and  cayotes.  However,  this  thought  did  n't  take 
away  my  appetite,  or,  if  it  did,  a  side  of  roasted  ribs 
and  about  five  pounds  of  solid  meat  disappeared  along 
with  it. 

As  soon  as  we  had  finished  supper,  we  changed  our 
saddles  from  the  horses  we  had  ridden  to  those  the 
Indians  had  stolen  from  us  (which  had  been  resting 
for  some  time) ,  and  mounting,  we  took  the  trail  back 
towards  the  settlement,  where  we  arrived  about  sun- 
up the  next  morning,  making  seventy-five  miles  we 
had  travelled  in  part  of  a  day  and  night,  without  ever 
getting  of[  our  horses  except  for  a  few  moments,  when 
we  fought  the  Indians. 

Jeff,  the  Indian-hater,  left  us  here  for  his  camp  on 
the  Chicolite,  and  I  never  saw  him  again.  I  was  told 
when  I  was  at  the  settlement  several  years  after  this, 
that  he  staid  around  there  for  a  good  while,  occa- 
sionally coming  into  the  settlement  for  his  supplies 


102  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

of  ammunition,  etc.,  and  always  bringing  with  him 
four  or  five  scalps.  At  length,  he  went  off  and  never 
returned,  and  it  is  supposed  that  the  Indians  finally 
caught  him  napping.  At  any  rate,  that  was  the  last 
that  was  ever  seen  or  heard  of  Jeff  Turner,  the  *'In- 
dian-hater." 


CHAPTER  XX 

Wallace  Makes  a  Treaty  with  the  Lipan  Indians — The  Indians 

Break  It — Preparation  to  Punish  Them — First 

Appearance  of  a  Live  Author. 

A  FEW  months  after  I  had  settled  on  the  Me- 
dina River,  I  concluded  that  it  would  be  good 
-policy  to  enter  into  a  regular  treaty  with  the 
Lipans,  who,  at  that  time,  occupied  all  the  adjacent 
country.  So  I  made  my  preparations  for  a  grand  din- 
ner, to  which,  upon  a  certain  day,  I  invited  all  the 
chiefs,  and  after  I  had  feasted  them  to  their  heart's 
content,  on  "bear-meat  and  honey"  and  "sweetened 
coffee,"  of  which  they  are  exceedingly  fond,  I 
broached  the  subject  to  them,  stating  briefly  that  I 
was  a  lone  man,  and  they  were  a  powerful  tribe,  and 
that  I  wanted  to  make  a  treaty  with  them,  by  which 
they  should  guarantee  never  to  interfere  with  me  or 
my  stock  so  long  as  I  conducted  myself  peaceably 
toward  them ! 

Whereupon,  the  head  chief,  Coyo-lopto-hajo,  or 
literally,  "Smells-bad-when-he-walks,"  (I  suppose  he 
had  some  Congo  blood  in  him),  rose  up  from  the 
buffalo  robe  on  which  he  was  sitting,  and  made  a 
speech  in  reply,  in  which  he  praised  me  in  the  highest 
terms,  saying  I  was  a  great  warrior  and  hunter,  and 
a  good  friend  to  the  Lipans ;  that  I  did  not  have  two 
faces,  like  a  great  many  of  the  white  people,  and  that, 
therefore,  they  had  confidence  in  what  I  told  them; 
that  they  knew  no  Lipan  had  ever  come  to  my  ranch 
and  gone  away  hungry,  but  that  I  had  always  filled 


I04  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

their  stomachs  (patting  his  own)  with  fat  bear-meat 
and  honey,  as  I  had  done  that  day. 

He  then  turned  to  the  other  chiefs,  and  asked  them 
if  they  were  wilhng  to  enter  into  the  treaty  I  pro- 
posed, and  they  all  grunted  out  their  readiness  to  do 
so.  So  the  treaty  was  formally  made  and  ratified,  and 
though  the  expenses  attending  it  were  much  less  than 
the  cost  of  a  majority  of  the  "treaties"  made  by 
"Uncle  Sam,"  it  was  probably  as  faithfully  kept — at 
least  for  a  long  time. 

When  the  chiefs  got  up  to  leave,  they  all  shook  me 
by  the  hand,  and  told  me  that  henceforth  I  was  just 
the  same  as  a  Lipan  in  their  estimation,  and  that  I 
must  steal  plenty  of  horses  and  cattle,  (the  only  mode 
as  they  supposed,  of  getting  them,)  and  that  they 
would  never  steal  them  from  me;  and  that  no  other 
Indians  would  dare  do  so  on  their  "hunting-grounds." 
But  before  the  chiefs  left,  in  order  to  "clinch"  the 
treaty  effectually,  I  produced  a  jug  of  whisky,  and 
told  them  they  had  to  take  a  parting  drink  with  me. 
From  the  length  of  time  that  "  Smells-bad-as-he- 
walks"  held  the  jug  to  his  lips,  I  think  he  must  have 
swallowed  at  least  a  pint — indeed,  I  am  certain  of  it, 
for  before  they  were  out  of  sight,  I  saw  him  charge 
his  mustang  over  the  other  chiefs,  and  go  off  whoop- 
ing and  yelling  like  a  maniac. 

Well,  for  several  years,  the  "treaty"  was  faithfully 
kept  on  both  sides,  and  I  never  lost  a  horse  or  a  hoof 
of  any  sort,  although  my  neighbors  (for  after  a  while 
several  families  settled  withn  six  or  eight  miles  of  me) 
could  not  keep  an  animal  on  their  ranches.  But,  in 
the  course  of  time,  the  Lipans  concluded  to  emigrate 
from  that  part  of  the  country  to  the  head-waters  of 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  IO5 

the  Guadalupe  River,  and  as  I  had  then  collected 
quite  a  stock  of  horses  and  mules  around  me,  the 
temptation  to  steal  from  me  was  too  great  to  be  re- 
sisted; and  a  night  or  so  after  the  tribe  had  left  they 
sent  back  a  party  of  warriors,  who  made  a  clean  sweep 
of  everything  I  had  in  the  shape  of  a  horse  on  my 
ranch.  At  first  I  did  not  suspect  the  Lipans,  suppos- 
ing that  the  stealing  had  been  done  by  other  Indians ; 
but  on  following  their  trail  a  short  distance  the  next 
morning,  I  picked  up  an  arrow,  which  I  knew,  from 
its  peculiar  make^  had  belonged  to  a  Lipan;  and  also 
a  tail  of  a  fox  fastened  to  a  carved  wooden  handle, 
such  as  the  chiefs  of  that  tribe  generally  carry  with 
them  on  all  occasions  of  public  ceremony.  I  was  in- 
dignant, of  course,  at  being  served  such  a  scurvy  trick 
by  my  old  friends  and  allies,  particularly  as  I  had  al- 
ways kept  the  "treaty"  made  with  them  in  good  faith 
myself,  and  I  determined  to  make  them  pay  dearly  for 
it  if  I  could.  So  the  next  morning  I  went  into  San 
Antonio,  where  there  was  a  ranging  company  sta- 
tioned, in  which  I  had  many  old  acquaintances,  and  I 
told  them  how  the  Lipans  had  served  me,  and  pro- 
posed that  we  should  make  up  a  party  and  follow  the 
Indians,  and  give  them  a  lesson  that  would  teach  them 
that  they  could  not  break  their  ^'solemn  treaties'*  with 
impunity. 

The  captain  of  the  company,  who  was  an  old  friend 
of  mine,  readily  consented  that  any  of  his  men  should 
go  with  me  who  desired  to  do  so,  and  about  thirty  of 
the  "right  sort"  volunteered  at  once,  by  whom  I  was 
unanimously  elected  "commander-in-chief"  for  the 
expedition.  The  captain  also  furnished  us  with  four 
fine  pack-mules,  and  rations  enough  to  last  us  a  month. 


I06  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

Just  as  we  were  leaving  San  Antonio  for  my 
"ranch/'  a  queer-looking  customer  rode  up  to  me, 
and  introduced  himself  by  saying: 

^'Captain  Wallace,  I  believe." 

** At  your  service,  sir,"  I  replied. 

"Well,"  said  he,  "captain,  I  have  understood  you 
were  about  starting  on  a  trip  into  the  'wilderness,'  and 
if  you  have  no  objection,  I  should  like  to  go  along  with 
you.  I  am  an  author,  sir,  and  am  now  engaged  in 
writing  a  novel  entitled  the  'Wayworn  Wanderer  of 
the  Western  Wilds,'  and  never  having,  as  yet,  been 
outside  of  the  'settlements,'  I  am  anxious  to  accom- 
pany you  on  your  trip,  in  order  to  acquire  some  practi- 
cal information  of  the  subjects  to  be  treated  of  in  it." 

"Well,"  I  replied,  "Mr.  Author,  I  have  not  the 
least  objection  to  your  going  with  us,  if  you  wish  it; 
but  I  will  tell  you  beforehand,  that  you  will  have  a 
very  rough  road  to  travel,  and  no  taverns  on  the  way 
to  put  up  in  at  night." 

"Oh!"  said  he,  "I  understand  all  about  that,  and  if 
it  is  agreeable  to  you  I  shall  certainly  go  along." 

Seeing  that  it  was  evidently  his  intention  to  go 
along  with  us  at  once,  I  said  to  him : 

"Of  course,  Mr.  Author,  I  have  not  the  least  ob- 
jection in  the  world  to  your  company;  but  you  surely 
do  not  think  of  starting  on  such  a  trip  in  the  dress  you 
have  on." 

He  was  dressed  in  a  stove-pipe  hat,  light  cloth  coat 
and  pantaloons,  and  patent-leather  gaiter  shoes.  Just 
think  of  a  fellow,  will  you,  in  that  costume,  among  the 
chaparrals  on  the  head-waters  of  the  Guadalupe 
River,  one  of  the  roughest  little  scopes  of  country  in 
all  the  borders  of  Texas. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  IO9 

"Why,"  said  he,  looking  down  at  himself,  in  an 
admiring  sort  of  way,  'Vhat  is  the  matter  with  my 
dress?" 

"Oh,  nothing  now,"  I  replied,  "but  by  the  time  you 
get  through  the  first  chaparral  on  the  way,  you  wilt 
not  have  a  rag  on  you  big  enough  to  patch  a  bullet 
with;  and  besides,"  I  continued,  "you  ought,  by  all 
means,  to  have  your  'implements'  with  you,"  (mean- 
ing, of  course,  a  rifle  and  revolver). 

"Oh,  I  have  got  them,"  he  said,  hauling  out  of  his 
pocket  a  portable  ink-stand  and  a  memorandum- 
book.    "I  always  carry  them  with  me." 

I  could  not,  to  save  my  life,  help  laughing  right 
out  in  the  fellow's  face.  It  was  too  ridiculous  to  think 
of  a  man  starting  out  on  the  "war-path"  without  a 
gun  or  a  pistol,  or  even  a  butcher-knife — with  noth- 
ing, in  fact,  except  an  "ink-bottle"  and  a  memoran- 
dum-book. 

"My  friend,"  I  said,  "if  you  are  determined  to  go 
on  this  trip,  take  my  advice,  and  go  back  to  San  An- 
tonio, and  get  you  a  gun  and  pistol,  and  a  buckskin  suit 
of  clothes,  and  then  join  us  at  my  ranch  on  the  Me- 
dina, where  we  shall  remain  until  to-morrow  even- 
ing." 

"Captain,"  he  replied,  "I  reckon  you  are  right,  and 
I  will  go  back  into  town  and  'fix  up'  as  you  advise,  and 
then  meet  you  at  your  'ranch'  at  the  time  appointed, 
provided  I  can  find  my  way  out  there." 

"Oh,  there  will  be  no  trouble  about  that,"  I  said, 
and  then  gave  him  the  necessary  directions  to  enable 
him  to  find  the  road. 

"Well,  good-by,  captain,"  he  said;  "you  may  look 
for  me  to  a  certainty,  for  I  am  resolved  to  go  along 


no  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

with  you,  and  pick  up  all  the  information  I  can  on  the 
subjects  I  shall  treat  of  in  my  great  novel  of  the 
'Wayworn  Wanderer  of  the  Western  Wilds.'  " 

"All  right,  Mr.  Author,"  I  replied;  ''and  I  have  no 
doubt  you  will  be  able  to  pick  up  a  good  deal  before 
you  get  back;"  and  with  that,  he  turned  his  pony  and 
cantered  off  toward  town.  I  was  rather  anxious  that 
the  fellow  should  go  with  us,  for  it  struck  me  there 
was  considerable  fun  to  be  had  out  of  him,  if  he  was 
rightly  "handled,"  and  I  hoped  what  I  had  told  him 
of  the  dangers  and  hardships  of  the  trip  would  not 
prevent  him  from  meeting  us  as  he  had  promised. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

The  Author  Again — The  Boys  Make  Fun  of  His  Umbrella — 
His  Pistol  "Goes  Off"  and  Creates  an  Excitement — Mr. 
Cooper's  Indian  Characters — Some  Sage  Reflections  on 
Character — The  Author  Wants  a  Bed,  and  Gets  Tige's 
Buffalo  Robe — "Something  Like  a  Pillow" — Troublesome 
Bedfellows — The  Start  After  the  Indians. 

,URE  enough,  late  in  the  evening  our  author 
rode  up  to  my  ranch  dressed  in  a  suit  of  buck- 
skin, with  a  little  double-barrel  gun  on  his 
shoulder,  and  an  umbrella  strapped  behind  his  saddle ! 
He  came  up  to  me  smiling,  and  shook  me  by  the  hand. 

"Well,  captain,"  said  he,  "you  see  I  am  *up  to  time,' 
and  'armed  and  equipped  as  the  law  directs.'  " 

The  men  gathered  around  him  as  he  dismounted 
from  his  pony,  to  see,  as  I  overheard  one  of  them  re- 
mark, if  they  could  make  out  what  sort  of  a  "var- 
mint" he  was. 

"I  am  glad  to  see  you,  Mr.  Author,"  I  said,  "and 
in  a  few  days  I  think  I  can  promise  you  a  little  insight 
into  the  ways  of  the  wilderness." 

"Hello,  stranger,"  said  one  of  the  men,  pointing  to 
the  umbrella,  "what's  that  you  have  got  strapped  to 
your  saddle  there?" 

"That,"  said  our  author,  "is  what  is  commonly 
termed  an  'umbrella,'  and  is  used  as  a  protection 
against  the  sun  and  rain." 

"Run  here,  everybody!"  cried  the  fellow.  Here's 
a  man  going  on  a  scout  with  an  umbrella." 

"Yes,"  says  another,  "and  when  he  gits  it  'histed,* 
he  won't  care  a  snap  if  it  rains  Injins." 


1 1 2  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

"Hurray,  boys!"  said  another,  "if  we  can  only 
come  up  with  them  thieving  Lipans,  they  might  as 
well  'knock  under'  at  once,  for  we  have  got  a  man  and 
his  'umbreir  along  with  us.  It 's  worth  a  dozen  of 
Uncle  Sam's  mountain  howitzers." 

"I'd  rather  have  it,"  said  another,  "than  that 
bird-gun  he's  got  on  his  shoulder,  for  if  he  was  to  open 
it  suddenly  on  an  Injin,  he  would  run  certain,  think- 
ing it  was  some  new-fangled,  'weepin'  of  the  white 
people;  at  least,  I  know  his  horse  would." 

"My  friend,"  said  I,  seeing  nothing  like  a  revolver 
buckled  around  him,  "why  didn't  you  bring  a  pistol 
with  you?" 

"Pistol,"  he  answered,  rummaging  about  in  his 
pockets;  "I  have  got  one  somewhere,  I  know." 

I  wish  I  may  be  kicked  to  death  by  grasshoppers  if 
he  didn't  fish  up  out  of  his  breeches  pocket  a  little 
pepper-box  of  a  thing  about  the  size  and  length  of  my 
big  toe. 

"Here  it  is,"  said  he,  fingering  at  the  trigger  as  he 
pulled  it  out,  when  "pop"  it  went,  right  in  the  midst 
of  the  crowd.  This  frightened  or  excited  our  author 
so  much  that  he  kept  on  pulling  the  trigger,  and  bang ! 
bang !  it  went,  until  all  six  of  the  barrels  were  emptied, 
when  he  dropped  it  like  a  hot  potato,  and  made  tracks 
for  the  house.  While  it  was  firing  off  the  men  dodged 
behind  everything  that  was  handy,  some  of  them  hal- 
looing, "Hobble  the  thing,"  "Rope  it,"  "Pitch  it  into 
the  creek,"  etc. 

Fortunately,  there  was  no  one  hit,  which  was  a  won- 
der, for  things  of  this  sort,  I  have  noticed,  are  very 
apt  to  hurt  somebody  when  they  go  off  accidentally. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 1 3 

but  you  cannot  strike  the  side  of  a  house  with  them  at 
ten  paces  when  you  shoot  at  it  on  purpose. 

The  men  were  tickled  to  death  with  our  author,  and 
some  of  them  proposed  having  him  out  of  the  house 
again  for  their  further  amusement;  but  I  objected  to 
this,  and  told  them  that  he  belonged  to  me,  for  I  had 
**found  him  first,"  and  that  it  would  not  do  to  use  him 
too  extravagantly,  for  fear  he  wouldn't  last  us  the  trip 
through.  They  thought  this  was  reasonable  enough, 
and  let  him  alone  the  balance  of  the  night. 

After  supper,  as  the  weather  was  pleasant  and  dry, 
the  men  spread  their  blankets  under  the  trees  around, 
and  soon  a  general  snoring  gave  evidence  that  they 
had  all  emigrated  to  the  "land  of  Nod." 

"Captain,"  said  our  author  to  me,  when  we  were 
left  alone  in  the  ranch,  "you  have  read  Mr.  Cooper's 
novels,  of  course:  what  do  you  think  of  his  delinea- 
tion of  the  Indian  character?" 

"Yes,"  I  replied,  "Mr.  Author,  I  have  read  some 
of  his  novels,  and  from  my  recollection  of  them,  I 
rather  think  his  Indian  characters  are  a  little  too 
highly  colored.  His  Indians  stalk  about  in  a  lofty  sort 
of  way,  wrapped  up  in  their  robes,  with  an  eagle's 
feather  on  their  heads,  and  talk  in  a  manner  that  the 
Indians  of  this  country  couldn't  comprehend  at  all. 
Besides,  his  Indians,  if  I  remember  well,  never  laugh, 
nor  steal  horses,  while  I  have  always  found  Indians 
to  be  uncommonly  fond  of  a  joke,  especially  of  a  cer- 
tain kind,  and  the  most  arrant  and  expert  thieves  that 
ever  went  unhung.  I  believe  they  could  almost  steal 
a  horse  out  of  a  ^corral'  if  there  had  not  been  one  in 
there  for  a  week." 

"You  astonish  me  greatly,"  said  the  author;  "and 


114  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

if  what  you  tell  me  about  the  Indians  be  true,  I  have 
been  cruelly  deceived  by  Mr.  Cooper,  and  shall  have 
an  immense  deal  of  work  to  do  in  writing  over  the 
characters  of  those  that  figure  in  my  novel  of  the 
Wayworn  Wanderer  of  the  Western  Wilds,'  for  they 
are  drawn  after  his  models.  I  shall  hate  to  'rub  out' 
my  principal  hero,  particularly 'Hopa-Tuki-lika-hajo,' 
or  the  'Rushing  River,'  for  he  is  my  beau  ideal  of  an 
aborigine — haughty  and  reserved  and  always  dressed 
in  fringed  hunting-shirt,  beaded  moccasins  and  wam- 
pum-belts, and  never  says  two  words  without  begin- 
ning, 'Brother,  listen.'  Oh,  it  will  be  too  bad,"  he  con- 
tinued, "if  I  shall  have  to  blot  out  my  'sheff-duvver'* 
(whatever  he  meant  by  that),  Hopa-Tuki-lika-hajo, 
after  all  the  trouble  I  have  had  to  fix  him  up  to  my 
notion;  but  I'll  do  it  if  I  find  his  character  overdrawn, 
for  the  'Wayworn  Wanderer'  is  not  intended  for  a 
sensation  novel,  and  its  scenes  and  characters  must 
be  true  to  nature." 

Our  author  and  I  sat  up,  I  suppose,  till  lo  o'clock, 
talking  on  various  matters,  and  though  he  was  as 
green  as  a  "cut-seed  watermelon"  on  everything  per- 
taining to  a  frontier  life,  I  found  him  to  be  well  in- 
formed upon  many  subjects  of  which  I  was  totally 
ignorant.  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  "putting  a  man  up" 
as  an  ignoramus  merely  because  he  is  verdant  in  some 
things  which  my  profession  or  peculiar  mode  of  life 
has  given  me  thorough  knowledge  of,  and  yet  I  know 
there  are  many  men  who  judge  of  one  entirely  by  this 
standard.  If  a  man  is  ignorant  of  woodcraft,  a  poor 
shot  with  a  rifle,  and  cannot  manage  a  wild  mustang, 
*  "Chef-d'oeuvre,"  French  for  "master-piece." 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 1 5 

backwoodsmen  are  very  apt  to  think  he  is  "no  great 
shakes"  any  way. 

After  a  while,  our  author  said  to  me :  "Captain, 
I'm  not  much  used  to  riding  on  horseback,  especially 
on  such  horses  as  you  have  here  in  Texas,  that  'pitch,' 
as  you  call  it,  half  the  time,  like  a  boat  beating  against 
a  head  sea,  and  I  feel  a  good  deal  worried  in  conse- 
quence ;  so  if  you  will  show  me  my  bed,  I  believe  I'll 
retire  for  the  night." 

"A  bed,"  I  replied,  "Mr.  Author,  is  a  piece  of  fur- 
niture that  has  never  darkened  the  doors  of  this  ranch 
yet;  but  there  is  a  buffalo  robe  in  the  corner  yonder, 
where  you  can  lie  down,  if  you  can  get  'Tige'  off  of  it; 
but  I  see  he  has  'nine  points  of  the  law'  in  his  favor." 

"Captain,"  said  our  author,  after  he  had  with  some 
difficulty  ousted  Tige,  "I  hate  to  trouble  you,  but  if 
there  is  anything  in  the  shape  of  a  pillow  about  the 
ranch,  I  should  like  to  get  it,  as  I  cannot  sleep  well 
without  something  of  the  sort  under  my  head." 

I  stepped  out  into  the  yard,  and  picked  up  a  wooden 
maul,  which  I  brought  in  and  stuffed  under  his  buffalo 
robe,  telling  him  there  was  something  in  the  shape  of 
2l  pillow,  though  not  quite  so  soft  as  it  might  be,  and 
that  I  hoped  he  would  rest  well,  as  he  had  a  long  ride 
before  him  the  next  day. 

In  a  little  while  he  was  sound  asleep,  and  dreaming, 
I  suppose,  of  his  novel,  for  I  heard  him  muttering 
something  about  the  "Wayworn  Wanderer  of  the 
Western  Wilds." 

In  the  morning,  as  soon  as  he  awoke,  he  said : 

"Captain,  this  is  a  substantial  pillow  of  yours  here ; 
they  must  last  a  long  time." 


1 16  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

"Yes,"  said  I,  "they  do,  when  you  are  careful  to 
keep  them  out  of  the  weather,  and  don't  split  more 
than  two  hundred  rails  a  day  with  them.  And  how  did 
you  rest  last  night?"  I  asked. 

"Well,  only  tolerable,"  says  he;  "I've  got  a  'crick' 
in  my  neck  this  morning"  (and  no  wonder,  for  the 
maul  was  made  of  ebony  wood,  and  was  as  hard  as  a 
flint  rock),  "and  besides,  there  was  some  sort  of  an 
insect  here  that  bit  me  cruelly  during  the  night." 

"Did  they  seem  to  hop,  or  did  they  appear  to 
crawl?"  I  asked. 

"I  think,"  he  replied,  "that  they  did  more  crawling 
than  hopping,  and  more  biting  than  either." 

"Where  did  you  get  that  buckskin  suit  you  had 
on?"  I  inquired. 

"From  a  Mexican,"  said  he,  "who  sold  it  to  me  as 
a  great  favor." 

"Then,"  said  I,  "Tige  isn't  to  blame !  you  are  lousy, 
sure!" 

"What!"  he  cried,  jumping  up  as  if  a  stinging 
lizard  had  popped  him  in  the  back.  "You  don't  say 
so !  What  am  I  to  do,  for  I've  nothing  else  here  to 
wear  but  that  miserable  buckskin  suit?" 

"Oh,"  I  said,  "they  are  all  off  of  the  clothes  by  this 
time,  and  on  you,  and  if  you  will  step  down  to  the 
creek  and  take  a  good  wash,  you  will  be  all  right 
again." 

Away  he  went,  as  if  he  had  been  on  fire,  or  had 
swallowed  a  dose  of  No.  6,  and  pitched  headforemost 
into  the  water,  where  he  washed,  combed,  and 
scrubbed  faithfully  for  half  an  hour.  All  the  while  I 
knew  very  well  that  Tige  was  at  the  bottom  of  his 
troubles,  but  of  course  I  didn't  tell  him  so. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 1 7 

After  we  had  got  some  breakfast,  we  saddled  up 
our  horses  and  mounted,  and  took  the  trail  of  the  In- 
dians. Our  author  rode  alongside  of  me,  on  a  white- 
eyed  "paint  pony,"  with  his  bird-gun  slung  across  his 
shoulders,  and  his  "umbrell"  tied  behind  him. 

He  didn't  present  a  very  formidable  appearance, 
as  you  may  well  suppose,  and  the  men  were  highly 
amused  at  the  figure  he  cut;  but  they  held  in  as  much 
as  possible  on  my  account. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  we  found  out  afterward 
that  the  little  author  was  as  "true  blue"  as  ever  flut- 
tered, though  of  course  he  couldn't  do  much  damage 
with  his  bird-gun  and  pepper-box. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

The  Sudden  Storm — Sad  Fate  of  the  "Author's"  Umbrella — 

What  He  Thought  of  Mr.  Cooper — The  Author  Goes 

a-Hunting,  and  What  He  Found — He  Pronounces 

Mr.  Cooper  a  Humbug. 

I  WAS  satisfied,  the  Indians  having  had  so  much 
the  start  of  us,  that  it  was  useless  to  "hurry  up" 
with  the  expectation  of  overhauling  them  before 
they  reached  the  country  they  intended  to  occupy  per- 
manently, and  I  determined  to  travel  along  leisurely, 
and  keep  our  horses  in  as  good  plight  as  possible  for 
the  long  "scout"  that  I  knew  was  ahead  of  us ;  so  we 
traveled  only  about  twenty-five  miles  that  day,  and 
encamped  just  before  sundown  in  a  little  valley  where 
there  was  a  bold  running  creek  and  plenty  of  good 
grass  for  our  horses.  When  we  had  got  some  supper, 
we  staked  out  our  animals,  placed  the  usual  guard 
over  them,  and  laid  down  under  the  trees  upon  our 
blankets,  the  author  and  I  occupying  one  bunk  to- 
gether. 

In  a  little  while  after  we  had  "gone  to  roost,"  the 
author  said  to  me : 

"Captain,  what  is  that  roaring  I  hear  like  a  charge 
of  cavalry??" 

I  rose  up  and  saw  a  dense  black  cloud  coming  rap- 
idly toward  us  from  the  north,  and  I  knew  we  were 
about  to  have  one  of  those  sudden  squalls  common  at 
that  season  of  the  year  in  the  hilly  country,  and  invari- 
ably accompanied  by  a  heavy  fall  of  rain. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 1 9 

*'We  are  in  for  a  ducking,  my  friend,"  I  said, 
^'unless  you  can  manage  to  protect  us  with  your  um- 
brella." 

"Oh,  I  can  do  that,"  said  he,  jumping  up;  "and 
you  will  find  that  an  umbrella  is  not  such  a  bad  article 
to  have  on  a  scout,  after  all." 

So  he  unstrapped  it  from  his  saddle  and  hoisted  it 
over  us ;  but  scarcely  had  he  done  so  when  the  squall 
struck  us  with  the  force  of  a  tornado,  and  the  first 
gust  of  wind  turned  the  umbrella  wrong  side  out, 
wrenched  it  from  his  hand,  and  carried  it  out  of  sight 
in  a  moment. 

"Captain,"  said  he,  "what's  to  be  done  now?  The 
umbrella  has  been  whisked  off  like  an  old  witch  upon 
a  broomstick,  and  we  shall  be  drenched  to  the  skin." 

"I  know  it,"  I  replied,  "but  there's  no  help  for  it, 
and  all  we  can  do  is  to  'lay  low'  and  take  it  quietly." 

"Why,  captain,"  he  answered,  "it  will  be  the  death 
of  us !  I  never  caught  a  wetting  but  once  in  my  life,  and 
then  as  soon  as  I  got  home,  I  didn't  feel  safe  until  I 
was  tucked  into  bed  with  the  'sheets  aired,'  and  had 
swallowed  a  couple  of  hot  toddies.  Oh,  dear!  the 
water  is  running  down  my  back  in  a  stream  now,  and 
I  shall  certainly  perish  from  such  horrible  exposure." 

"Not  a  bit  of  it,  Mr.  Author,"  I  replied,  "you'll 
wake  up  as  fresh  as  a  lark  in  the  morning.  There's  a 
stream  running  down  my  back,  too,  but  it  isn't  quite  as 
big  as  the  Colorado,  and  I'm  not  the  least  afraid  of  its 
drowning  me.  All  you've  got  to  do  is  to  keep  quiet, 
and  you  will  very  soon  be  comfortable  enough." 

"Well,"  said  he,  after  a  while,  "if  this  is  what  you 
call  'comfortable,'  your  ideas  and  mine  differ  very 
widely  on  the  subject.   The  water  is  half-way  up  my 


120  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

sides.  I  begin  to  think,"  he  continued,  shivering  and 
scrouging  closer  up  to  me,  to  borrow  a  little  of  my 
warmth,  of  which  in  fact  I  hadn't  much  to  spare — 
"I  begin  to  think  there  was  a  good  deal  of  humbug 
about  Cooper,  after  all,  for  in  all  his  descriptions  of 
the  woods  and  frontier  life,  he  never  says  a  word 
about  a  fellow's  having  to  sleep  in  a  puddle  on  the 
ground,  with  a  damp  blanket  smelling  of  horses  over 
his  shoulders,  and  a  stream  of  cold  water  trickling 
down  his  back.  When  people  'bivouac'  in  his  novels, 
the  nights  are  always  serene  and  clear,  the  stars  twin- 
kle overhead,  the  turf  is  green  and  soft  (there's  a 
bowlder  as  big  as  my  first  exactly  under  my  hip) ,  and 
everything  is  pleasant  and  agreeable.  I'm  losing  my 
confidence  in  Mr.  Cooper  rapidly." 

In  about  an  hour  the  rain  ceased,  the  puddle  disap- 
peared from  around  us,  and  notwithstanding  his  "un- 
comfortable" situation,  our  author  slept  like  a  top  the 
balance  of  the  night. 

The  first  thing  we  saw  in  the  morning,  when  we 
woke  up,  was  the  "umbreH"on  the  top  of  a  mesquite 
bush  where  the  wind  had  lodged  it,  about  fifty  paces 
from  where  we  had  slept.  The  men  discovered  it 
about  the  same  time,  and  as  they  wanted  to  fire  off 
their  guns  and  pistols,  which  had  got  damp  in  the  rain, 
they  pretended  to  think  it  was  a  turkey  on  its  roost, 
and  every  one  took  a  crack  at  it.  As  soon  as  the  firing 
ceased,  our  author  went  out  and  lifted  it  from  its 
roost  with  a  long  pole,  and  though  sadly  damaged  by 
the  bullets  and  wind,  he  carefully  strapped  it  on  his 
saddle  again. 

That  day  we  traveled  only  about  twenty  miles  on 
the  trail,  to  a  small  creek  where  I  thought  it  advisable 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  I  2  I 

to  camp,  as  I  knew  It  was  doubtful  about  finding  any 
water  for  a  long  distance  beyond  it.  The  sun  was  two 
or  three  hours  high  when  we  got  to  the  creek,  and 
several  of  the  men  went  out  hunting,  and  so  did  our 
author,  though  what  he  expected  to  kill  with  his  little 
bird-gun  is  more  than  I  can  say.  He  had  been  gone 
but  a  short  while  when  we  heard  both  barrels  of  his 
gun  go  off  quickly  one  after  another,  and  soon  after- 
ward we  heard  him  halloo  a  dozen  times  in  rapid 
succession. 

Supposing  something  extraordinary  had  happened 
to  him,  I  seized  my  rifle  and  hurried  off  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  sound.  When  I  had  gone  about  half  a  mile, 
I  came  to  the  top  of  a  ridge,  and  looking  over  in  the 
valley  beyond,  I  saw  our  author  dodging  from  one 
side  to  the  other  of  a  small  mesquite-tree,  while  a  big 
buck  trotted  around  it,  every  now  and  then  making 
furious  lunges  at  him  with  his  horns.  Our  author, 
however,  displayed  more  activity  and  skill  in  dodging 
than  I  had  given  him  credit  for,  and  thinking  he  was 
in  no  immediate  danger,  I  walked  along  very  leisurely 
toward  him. 

When  I  had  got  within  about  fifty  yards  of  him,  he 
sang  out  to  me,  in  the  most  pleading  tones,  "to  make 
haste  and  shoot  the  buck." 

"Hurry,  captain,"  said  he,  "and  shoot  the  outrage- 
ous thing,  for  I  can't  keep  up  this  dodging  much 
longer." 

But  the  fact  is,  I  was  in  no  hurry  to  shoot,  for  it  was 
rather  a  funny  sight  to  see  how  spry  the  little  author 
would  "squirrel"  round  the  tree  whenever  the  buck 
made  a  pass  at  him.  At  last  he  lost  all  patience,  and 
sang  out : 


122  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

"Captain,  why  in  the  world  don't  you  shoot? 
Shoot,  and  that  pretty  quick,  if  you  don't  want  to  see 
me  murdered  in  'cold  blood'  by  this  horrid  beast." 

"That's  hardly  possible,  Mr.  Author,"  I  said,  "as 
you  certainly  have  taken  exercise  enough  to  warm  it 
up  a  little." 

But  the  buck  kept  him  so  busy  he  paid  no  attention 
to  anything  I  said,  but  continued  to  sing  out : 

"Shoot,  captain!  shoot  the  horrid  beast." 

The  little  author  was  amazingly  expert  and  nimble 
at  dodging,  but,  fearing  he  might  accidentally  get  hurt 
if  the  game  was  kept  up  too  long,  I  raised  my  gun, 
deliberately  took  sight  at  the  buck,  and  fired.  At  the 
crack  of  the  rifle,  he  made  one  last  and  desperate 
plunge  at  the  author,  grazing  him  so  closely  that  he 
carried  away  a  piece  of  the  tail  of  his  hunting-shirt  on 
his  horns,  and  then  fell  as  "dead  as  a  door  nail"  a  few 
feet  from  the  root  of  the  tree. 

Our  author  threw  himself  on  the  ground,  com- 
pletely "beat  out,"  and  panting  and  blowing  like  a 
stag-hound  after  a  long  chase.  I  walked  up  to  where 
he  lay,  and  as;  soon  as  he  could  catch  his  breath  a* 
little,  he  said  : 

"Captain,  will  you  please  tell  me  exactly  how  long 
it  took  you  to  walk  from  the  top  of  that  hill  to  this 
place,  and  how  long  you  took  sight  at  that  buck  after 
you  got  here?  I  am  anxious  to  know,  for  I  wish  to 
make  a  note  in  my  book  of  the  'slowest  time  on 
record'." 

I  saw  in  a  minute  that  our  author  was  as  mad  as  a 
hornet  (and  no  wonder,  either),  so  I  said: 

"Until  I  got  up  close  to  you,  I  actually  thought  you 
were  after  the  buck,  and  not  the  buck  after  you;  that 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 23 

it  was  the  buck  dodging  round  the  tree,  and  you  were 
trying  to  get  hold  of  him  to  cut  his  throat."  [Big- 
Foot  ''stretched  his  blanket"  considerably  here.] 

"Well," he  replied,  "it  may  have  looked  so  to  'a  man 
on  a  hill,'  but  it  was  just  the  contrary,  I  can  tell  you., 
If  you  had  put  off  shooting  one  moment  later,  the 
world  would  never  have  seen  the  conclusion  of  the 
'Wayworn  Wanderer,'  and  you  would  have  been  re- 
sponsible to  posterity  for  the  loss  they  would  have 
suffered  in  consequence.  But  it's  all  owing  to  Mr. 
Cooper,"  he  continued,  "for  I  never  would  have  ven- 
tured to  attack  a  beast  with  such  a  head  of  horns  if  it 
had  not  been  for  him.  In  all  his  novels  he  describes 
the  deer  as  'a  timid,  innocent  animal,  that  is  startled 
at  its  own  shadow  in  the  sun.'  I  only  wish  he  had  been 
here  in  my  place !  Why,  sir,  I  never  saw  so  furious  a 
beast  in  all  my  born  days,  and  I  am  pretty  well  con- 
vinced now  that  Mr.  Cooper  was  a  humbug;  and  as 
certain  as  I  live  I  will  expose  all  his  fallacies  in  the 
'Wayworn  Wanderer.'  He  has  imposed  on  the  world 
quite  long  enough." 

"That's  all  right,  Mr.  Author,"  said  I;  "but  how 
do  you  intend  to  describe  the  deer?" 

"Just  as  he  is,"  said  he,  "a  peaceable-looking  ani- 
mal enough  before  you  attack  him,  but,  the  moment 
you  fire  upon  him,  a  great  fierce  creature,  with  a  head 
of  horns  like  a  brush-heap,  eyes  as  green  as  grass,  and 
his  hair  all  turned  the  wrong  way,  and  so  active  that 
nothing  but  a  monkey  or  a  squirrel  can  dodge  fast 
enough  round  a  tree  to  keep  out  of  his  way." 

"That's  a  description,  sir,  that  for  truth  and  cor- 
rectness would  do  to  go  in  'Goldsmith's  Animated 
Nature'." 


1 24  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

While  our  author  was  running  on  in  this  style,  I 
proceeded  to  skin  the  buck,  and  to  cut  off  some  choice 
pieces  to  carry  back  with  us  to  camp.  When  I  got 
through,  I  pretended  just  then  to  discover  the  tail  of 
our  author's  hunting-shirt  hanging  to  the  buck's 
horns. 

"Hello!"  said  I,  "what's  this?" 

"Oh,  that,"  he  said,  is  nothing  but  the  tail  of  my 
hunting-shirt,  which  that  *timid,  innocent  animal,  that 
is  startled  at  its  own  shadow  in  the  sun,'  carried  away 
on  its  horns  when  he  made  the  last  furious  lunge  at 
me.  I'll  thank  you  to  hand  it  over  to  me,  if  you  please, 
and  I'll  splice  it  on  when  we  get  to  camp.  Mr. 
Cooper's  a  humbug,  sir!" 


w: 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Our  Author  Has  an  Appetite — Scarcity  of  Water — The  Author 
Takes  Notes,  and  the  Men  Get  Riled— The  Mud-Puddle. 

HEN  we  got  back  to  camp  with  our 
author's  venison,  we  found  that  some  of 
the  boys  had  cut  down  a  "bee-tree,"  from 
which  they  had  taken  five  or  six  gallons  of  excellent 
honey,  and  with  some  of  the  steaks  from  the  buck  that 
had  exercised  our  author  so  much,  we  made  a  bounti- 
ful supper.  I  never  in  my  life  saw  a  man  eat  heartier 
than  the  author. 

"Captain,"  said  he,  as  he  sat  sipping  his  coffee, 
after  having  stowed  away  about  five  pounds  of  veni- 
son, not  to  mention  "hard-tack"  and  other  things, 
"this  wandering  about  in  Western  wilds  seems  to  give 
one  a  wonderful  appetite.  I  feel  like  a  frog  that  had 
swallowed  shot,  and  I  should  make  a  poor  out  at 
dodging  a  buck  now,  for  I  should  have  him  on  both 
sides  of  me  at  once,  inside  and  outside." 

"Oh,  my  friend,"  said  I,  "you  have  not  come  fairly 
to  your  appetite  yet.  When  you  have  been  out  a  couple 
of  weeks  or  so,  and  have  exercised  yourself  at  dodg- 
ing bucks  a  few  times  more,  you  will  be  very  nearly 
able  to  eat  a  'mule  and  a  hamper  of  greens'  at  a  single 
meal." 

"I  shall  not  take  any  more  exercise  in  that  way,"  he 
replied,  "particularly  if  I've  got  to  depend  upon  you 
to  help  me  out  of  the  scrape.  I  shall  certainly  not  inter- 
fere again  with  Mr.  Cooper's  'timid,  innocent  ani- 
mals, that  are  frightened  at  their  own  shadows  in  the 
sun'." 

After  a  while,  our  author  took  out  his  memoran- 


126  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

dum  book  and  pencil,  as  was  his  custom  every  night, 
and  noted  down  all  that  had  happened  during  the  day, 
which  he  said  was  the  "material"  for  the  revised 
edition  of  the  "Wayworn  Wanderer." 

The  night  passed  off  quietly,  and  the  next  morning 
we  were  again  on  our  way  by  the  time  the  sun  had 
fairly  risen. 

We  had  entered  upon  a  country  that  at  that  time 
was  entirely  destitute  of  water,  and  we  traveled  all 
that  day  and  until  an  hour  after  dark  without  finding 
any.  As  the  weather  was  warm,  men  and  animals 
suffered  severely  for  want  of  it.  The  next  morning 
we  were  up  betimes  and  again  on  the  road,  but  mile 
after  mile  was  passed  over,  and  still  not  one  drop  of 
water  could  we  find  in  the  bottoms  of  the  deepest 
gullies  and  canons  that  lay  on  our  way. 

Toward  sundown,  both  men  and  horses  were  suf- 
fering severely  from  thirst,  and  I  began  to  feel  some 
uneasiness  at  the  prospect  of  having  to  pass  another 
night  without  water.  Our  author  stood  the  "racket" 
like  a  man;  in  fact,  he  seemed  rather  to  enjoy  the 
situation  than  otherwise. 

"Captain,"  said  he,  riding  up  to  me,  "I  wouldn't 
have  missed  this  for  a  great  deal.  I  can  work  up  from 
the  material  I  have  collected  in  the  last  twenty-four 
hours  a  thrilling  chapter  on  the  suffering  produced  by 
intense  thirst,  that  will  add  much  to  the  interest  of  the 
*Wayworn  Wanderer.'  But,  I  have  one  thing  to  ask 
of  you,  which  will  enable  me  to  complete  the  informa- 
tion I  want,  and  make  this  chapter  (unlike  Mr. 
Cooper's)  true  to  nature.  Will  you  please  order  the 
men  to  halt  for  a  moment?" 

Not  having  the  slightest  idea  what  he  wanted,  I  did 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 27 

as  he  requested,  and  called  out  "Halt!"  The  men 
drew  up  very  unwillingly,  for  they  were  parching  with 
thirst,  and  were  anxious  to  get  on  as  fast  as  possible, 
in  the  hope  of  finding  water  before  night. 

As  soon  as  they  had  come  to  a  halt,  our  author  rode 
out  in  front  of  them,  like  an  enrolling  officer,  and  de- 
liberately drawing  forth  his  memorandum  book  and 
pencil,  he  said  to  them : 

"My  friends,  I  hope  you  will  not  think  I  have  taken 
too  great  a  liberty  in  halting  you  in  this  way,  and  I  am 
sure  you  will  not,  when  I  explain  to  you  my  reasons 
for  so  doing." 

"Well,  say  it  out  quick,"  said  some  one  in  the  crowd, 
"for  this  is  no  time  for  long  talks,  and  we  are  in  a 
hurry  to  get  to  water,  if  there  is  any  left  in  this  miser- 
able country." 

"Well,  my  friends,"  said  our  author,  "I  will  not  de- 
tain you  more  than  ten  minutes.  All  I  want  of  you  is 
to  keep  still  long  enough  to  enable  me  to  get  a  correct 
expression  of  the  human  countenance  when  distorted 
by  the  pangs  of  intense  thirst,  which  will  aid  me  ma- 
terially in  working  up  one  of  the  most  thrilling  chap- 
ters of  my  forthcoming  novel,  the  'Wayworn  Wan- 
derer'." 

And  I  wish  I  may  be  kicked  to  death  by  grasshop- 
pers if  he  didn't  ride  along  the  line,  every  now  and 
then  stopping  before  a  fellow  and  putting  down  in  his 
book  such  notes  as  these :  "Eyes  inflamed  and  blood- 
shot," "Lips  purple  and  contracted,"  "Countenance 
pale  and  anxious,"  etc. 

The  men,  for  a  little  while,  didn't  seem  to  under- 
stand what  he  was  up  to,  but  when  they  did,  I  verily 
believe  they  would  have  murdered  him  on  the  spot  if 


128  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

it  had  not  been  for  me.  As  it  was,  they  contented 
themselves  with  giving  him  a  hearty  cursing,  and, 
wheeling  their  horses,  rode  on  rapidly,  to  make  up 
for  lost  time.    Said  one  of  them  to  another: 

"If  that  fellow  hadn't  been  a  sort  of  pet  of  the  cap- 
tain's, if  I  wouldn't  have  shot  him  off  that  wall-eyed 
*paint'  of  his'n !  Only  think  of  the  fellow's  impudence, 
will  you,  to  stop  the  whole  crowd  when  we  haven't  had 
a  drop  of  water  for  two  days,  just  to  see  how  a  man 
looked  when  he  was  dying  from  thirst!" 

Said  another:  *'If  I  had  only  suspicioned  what  he 
was  up  to  at  the  start,  he  would  have  heard  a  gun  fire 
certain;  but  when  he  came  out  in  that  way,  with  his 
book  in  his  hand,  I  made  sure  he  was  going  to  tell  us 
where  there  was  a  gold  mine,  or  at  least  that  he  had  a 
Vay-biir  to  some  water-hole." 

Our  author  seemed  a  little  disconcerted  at  first  by 
the  unceremonious  manner  in  which  the  men  had 
treated  him,  but  he  soon  recovered  his  usual  self- 
complacency,  and  took  it  all  in  good  part. 

"My  friend,"  said  I,  as  I  rode  up  to  him,  "the  men 
didn't  seem  very  well  pleased  at  your  halting  them  in 
the  road  to  make  a  note  of  their  looks." 

"No,"  he  replied,  "and  I  can't  blame  them  much 
for  being  a  little  impatient,  under  the  circumstances ; 
but  if  I  had  only  taken  the  precaution  to  read  them  a 
chapter  or  two  from  the  'Wayworn  Wanderer'  before 
I  told  them  what  I  wanted,  I  have  no  doubt  they 
would  willingly  have  put  themselves  to  some  incon- 
venience to  aid  me  in  perfecting  such  a  work." 

"Oh,  no  doubt  of  that,"  I  answered. 

"The  fact  is,"  continued  the  author,  "I'm  begin- 
ning to  lose  some  of  my  interest  in  the  book  myself, 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 29 

for  this  wretched  thirst  torments  me  so  I  can  think  of 
nothing  but  water,  in  some  shape  or  other — river 
water,  lake  water,  spring  water,  or  even  a  duck-puddle 
would  have  more  interest  for  me  now  than  I  ever  took 
in  one  of  Cooper's  novels  before  I  found  him  out. 
Captain,"  he  went  on,  "don't  you  see  any  signs  of 
water  hereabouts  at  all?" 

"No,"  I  answered,  "but  I  hope  we  won't  have  to 
pass  another  night  without  it,  for  if  we  should,  our 
animals  will  be  seriously  injured,  to  say  nothing  of 
what  we  will  have  to  suffer  ourselves." 

Luckily,  just  before  night,  we  struck  a  sort  of 
lagoon,  or  the  dry  bed  of  a  branch,  which  we  followed 
down  for  some  distance,  and  at  length  came  to  a  little 
pool  of  muddy  water.  With  great  difficulty,  we  kept 
our  horses  from  plunging  into  it  until  we  had  filled 
our  canteens,  when  we  turned  them  loose,  and  in  a 
few  moments  they  drank  it  dry.  They  did  not  get  half 
as  much  as  they  wanted,  but  still  there  was  enough  to 
partially  slake  their  thirst. 

What  we  had  taken  up  in  our  canteens  was  so  thick 
with  mud  that  we  could  scarcely  pour  it  out,  and  yet 
our  author  declared  it  was  the  best  water  he  ever 
drank,  and  that  the  flavor  of  the  mud  was  rather  an 
addition  to  it  than  otherwise;  of  which  fact  he  said 
he  intended  to  make  a  "note,"  as  it  controverted  the 
popular  idea  that  the  water  of  "crystal  streams"  and 
"purling  brooks"  was  the  best. 

We  encamped  near  this  lagoon  for  the  night,  and  at 
daylight  the  next  morning  we  were  on  the  way  again, 
for  we  did  not  wait  for  breakfast,  as  there  was  not 
water  enough  left  in  our  canteens  to  make  a  cup  of 
coffee. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Plenty  of  Water — A  Halt  for  Refreshment — Our  Author 
Among  the  Rocks — He  Meets  with  an  Adventure — Treed  by- 
Mexican  Hogs — He  Grows  Desperate — Is  Released  at  Last 
— Adventure  with  a  Rattlesnake — More  Scared  Than  Hurt. 


Ws 


had  traveled  but  a  few  miles,  when  our 
ail  led  us  into  a  narrow  pass  in  the  hills, 
after  going  up  this  two  or  three  miles 
farther,  we  came  to  one  of  the  most  beautiful  little 
valleys  I  had  ever  seen,  through  the  midst  of  which 
there  ran  a  bold  stream  of  water,  bordered  by  fine 
large  cypress  and  pecan  trees.  The  grass  in  this  valley 
was  luxuriant,  and  the  Indians  we  were  following 
had  stopped  in  it  some  time  to  recruit  their  horses, 
after  passing  over  the  desert  country  we  had  just  come 
through,  as  was  evident  from  the  quantity  of  bones 
and  other  offal  around  their  camps.  As  our  horses  had 
had  but  little  grass  for  the  last  two  days,  I  thought  it 
would  be  good  policy  to  follow  their  example,  and 
rest  them  here  until  the  next  day.  So  we  picked  out  a 
suitable  place  for  a  camp-ground,  in  a  grove  of  pecans, 
and  staked  the  animals  out  to  graze. 

Our  author  was  a  great  geologist,  I  think  he  called 
it,  as  well  as  a  book-maker,  and  would  frequently  talk 
to  me  about  the  "stratas"  and  the  "primary"  and  "ter- 
tiary" formations,  though  I  told  him  I  did  not  know 
anything  of  such  matters;  and  whenever  we  stopped 
to  camp,  he  would  frequently  "boge"  about  for  hours 
among  the  caverns  and  gulches,  hunting  what  he  called 
"specimens,"  and  come  back  with  his  pockets  filled 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 3 1 

with  rocks,  which  he  would  sort  out  and  label,  and 
then  store  them  away  carefully  in  his  saddle-bags.  On 
one  occasion  I  heard  one  of  my  men  say  to  another, 
"Bill,  what  in  the  thunder  do  you  suppose  the  'author' 
has  got  in  his  saddle-wallets,  that  makes  them  so 
heavy?" 

"Don't  know,"  said  Bill,  unless  they  are  nuggets." 

"Nuggets?"  said  the  other;  "they  are  rocks  just 
like  these  you  see  laying  all  around  here.  I  know  it  is 
so,  for  I  looked  into  them  this  morning!" 

"Why,"  answered  Bill,  "what  do  you  reckon  the 
fool  is  packing  them  about  for?" 

"No  idea,"  said  the  other,  "unless  he  has  no  faith 
in  that  'bird-gun'  and  'pepper-box'  he  totes,  and  in- 
tends to  fight  with  them  when  we  catch  up  with  these 
Ingens.  The  truth  is,  Bill,"  he  continued,  "the  fellow 
is  as  crazy  as  a  bed-bug,  sure,  and  if  he  only  had  any 
weepins  about  him  that  could  hurt  a  body,  I  should 
keep  my  eye  skinned  on  him,  certain." 

In  fact,  by  this  time  the  belief  was  prevalent  among 
the  men  that  our  author  was  really  "unsettled"  in  his 
mind,  which  supposition  proved,  in  the  end,  of  service 
to  him,  for  of  course  they  could  not  hold  a  crazy  man 
responsible  for  anything  he  did. 

As  soon  after  our  halt  as  he  had  unsaddled  and 
staked  his  horse,  he  went  out,  as  usual,  hunting  "speci- 
mens" in  the  ravines  and  gullies  among  the  hills.  I 
was  just  settling  myself  upon  my  blanket,  to  take  a 
comfortable  snooze,  when  we  heard  him  "halloo" 
repeatedly  about  half  a  mile  from  camp. 

"There,"  said  one  of  the  men,  "there  is  that  crazy 
chap  got  into  a  scrape  with  another  buck,  I  suppose, 
and  somebody  will  have  to  go  and  help  him  out  of  it." 


132  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

"Yes,"  said  another,  "and  the  first  thing  he  knows 
he  will  have  his  'hair  lifted,'  'boging'  about  alone, 
with  nothing  but  that  'pop-gun'  of  his  to  fight  with. 
He  had  better  trust  to  his  'umbrell'." 

I  was  satisfied,  however,  it  could  not  be  a  buck  that 
was  after  him  this  time,  for  I  had  noticed,  when  he 
left  camp,  that  he  did  not  take  his  "pop-gun"  along 
with  him,  and  as  he  continued  to  "sing  out"  louder 
and  louder,  I  at  length  picked  up  my  rifle,  and  started 
off  to  see  what  sort  of  a  scrape  he  had  got  into.  At 
the  bottom  of  a  deep  ravine,  I  found  him  sitting  on 
the  top  of  a  chaparral  bush,  with  his  memorandum 
book  in  his  hand,  and  about  a  dozen  Mexican  hogs 
around  him.  He  was  barely  out  of  their  reach,  and 
every  now  and  then,  one  of  them  would  make  a  pass 
at  his  legs,  whenever  he  stretched  them  down  to  re- 
lieve them  a  little  from  the  constrained  position  in 
which  he  was  compelled  to  keep  them. 

As  soon  as  I  appreciated  the  situation  of  affairs,  I 
scrambled  up  Into  a  mesqulte-tree,  about  thirty  paces 
from  where  our  author  was  roosting,  for  I  knew  very 
well  these  "havlllnas,"  when  excited  and  roused,  were 
the  most  dangerous  of  all  our  wild  animals.  When  in 
considerable  numbers,  they  frequently  attack  a  man 
with  great  ferocity,  and  are  almost  certain  to  cut  him 
to  pieces  with  their  terrible  tusks,  unless  he  can  effect 
a  timely  retreat,  for  they  are  much  more  active  and 
swift  on  foot  than  the  common  wild  hog. 

When  I  found  myself  safe  from  their  attacks,  I 
called  out  to  our  author  to  know  what  he  was  doing 
on  that  bush. 

"Hallo!  Captain!"  he  called  out,  "Is  that  you?" 
( for  the  hogs  had  kept  him  so  busy  he  had  not  noticed 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 33 

me  till  then) .  "I  am  as  glad  to  see  you  as  I  was  when 
the  buck  was  after  me.  I  hope,  though,  you  will  not 
be  quite  so  deliberate  as  you  were  on  that  occasion." 

"Yes,"  I  answered,  "but  what  are  you  doing  on  the 
top  of  that  bush?" 

"Doing !"  said  he.  "Can't  you  see  that  I  am  trying 
to  keep  my  legs  out  of  the  reach  of  these  outrageous 
wild  pigs,  and  it  is  as  much  as  I  can  do  at  that.  There ! 
did  you  see  that  scroundrel  make  a  pass  at  me?" 

"Why  don't  you  drive  them  away?"  I  asked. 

"Drive  them  away!"  replied  our  author.  "I  have 
thrown  all  my  specimens  at  them,  and  everything  else 
I  had  about  me  except  my  memorandum  book,  and  it 
only  makes  them  worse.  They  are  not  afraid  of  any- 
thing." 

Said  I,  "Mr.  Author,"  fixing  myself  comfortably 
on  a  limb,  "this  reminds  me  of  a  scrape  I  once  got  into 
with  these  'havilinas,'  that  would  do  for  a  chapter  in 
the  'Wayworn  Wanderer;'  and  as  we  are  comfortably 
fixed  out  here,  all  by  ourselves,  I  could  not  have  a 
better  chance  of  telling  it  to  you." 

"Comfortable!"  he  exclaimed.  "You  have  strange 
ideas  of  it,  if  you  think  a  man  can  be  comfortable, 
sitting  on  the  top  of  your  abominable  Texas  chapar- 
ral, with  his  knees  drawn  up  to  his  chin,  a  thorn  in  each 
leg  as  long  as  my  finger,  and  a  dozen  wild  hogs  mak- 
ing lunges  at  them  whenever  he  stretches  them  down 
for  a  moment's  ease.  For  heaven's  sake,  shoot  them," 
he  implored,  "and  let  me  out  of  this  nest  of  thorns." 

"I  can't,"  I  replied.  "I  have  only  the  bullet  that  is 
in  my  gun,  and  if  I  shoot  one  of  them,  it  will  make  the 


134  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

"You  don't  tell  me  so,  captain,"  he  answered; 
"then  what  in  the  world  shall  we  do?" 

"Why,"  said  I,  "the  only  thing  we  can  do  now,  is  to 
be  patient,  and  wait  until  the  moon  rises  to-night,  and 
I  think  then  the  'havilinas'  will  leave  us." 

"Oh !  don't  talk  to  me  about  the  moon's  rising.  It 
won't  be  up  till  12  o'clock,  at  least,  and  I  can't  stand 
this  fifteen  minutes  longer,  no  how.  Crackey!  that 
fellow  gave  me  a  grazer !  He  has  taken  off  the  heel 
of  my  boot  on  his  tusks !" 

"You  see,  Mr.  Author,"  I  continued,  pretending 
not  to  hear  what  he  said,  "it  was  about  six  years  ago, 
that  Bill  Hankins  and  I  were  out  'bear-hunting'  on  the 
head-waters  of  the  Leon,  when — " 

"Plague  take  that  fellow,  he  brought  blood  that 
time,  certain!"  said  our  author.  "Their  teeth  are  as 
sharp  as  razors." 

"As  I  was  saying,"  I  went  on,  "it  was  about  six 
years  ago  that  Bill  Plankins  and  I  were  out  bear-hunt- 
ing on  the  head-waters  of  the  Leon,  when  we  fell  in 
with  a  large  drove  of  these  'havilinas'." 

"They  are  gnawing  my  bush  down,"  said  our 
author,  in  a  pitiable  tone;  "they  will  have  it  down  in 
less  than  ten  minutes." 

"As  I  was  saying,"  I  continued,  "it  was  about  six 
years  ago  that  Bill  Hankins  and  I  were  out  bear-hunt- 
ing on  the  head-waters  of  the  Leon,  when  we  fell  in 
with  a  large  drove  of  havilinas,  and  before  we  were 
aware  of  our  danger — " 

"Shuh!  you  devils,"  said  our  author,  flinging  his 
last  missile,  his  memorandum  book,  at  the  hogs,  as 
they  made  a  general  rush  on  his  bush. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  137 

"Mr.  Author,"  I  said,  in  an  offended  tone,  ''you  are 
not  paying  the  slightest  attention  to  what  I  am  telling 
you.  You  might  learn  something  even  from  the  In- 
dians in  this  respect,  for,  according  to  Mr.  Cooper, 
they  never  interrupt  a  man  when  he  is  talking. 

"As  I  was  saying,"  I  continued,  "it  was  about  six 
years  ago  that  Bill  Hankins  and  I  were  out  bear-hunt- 
ing on  the  head-waters  of  the  Leon — " 

"Oh !  bother  Mr.  Cooper  and  Bill  Hankins  and  the 
head-waters  of  the  Leon,"  said  our  author,  losing  his 
temper  at  my  persistence  in  relating  the  anecdote. 
"Cooper's  a  fool.  Oh,  my!  there's  a  thorn  clean 
through  my  back,  into  the  hollow!" 

"But,  my  friend,"  said  I,  changing  my  tactics,  "you 
ought  to  bear  your  troubles  with  patience,  for  you 
should  remember  what  a  thrilling  chapter  you  will  be 
able  to  make  out  of  this  adventure  for  the  'Wayworn 
Wanderer'." 

"Oh,  yes,"  said  he;  "but  who  will  there  be  to  write 
it,  when  I  am  chawed  up  by  these  infuriated  pigs  like 
a  handful  of  acorns?  Oh,  dear!  they'll  have  me 
directly.  I  can  feel  the  bush  giving  way  now.  Cap- 
tain," said  he,  "you  will  find  the  manuscript  of  the 
'Wayworn  Wanderer'  in  my  saddle-bags.  Take  it, 
and  publish  it  for  the  benefit  of  the  world,  and  tell 
them  of  the  melancholy  fate  of  the  poor  author.  But 
tell  them,  for  mercy's  sake,  that  I  was  devoured  by  a 
lion,  or  a  panther,  or  a  catamount,  or  some  other  de- 
cent sort  of  a  beast,  and  not  by  a  gang  of  squealing 
pigs.   It  won't  sound  romantic,  you  know." 

"I'll  do  it,  Mr.  Author,"  said  I;  "but  I  hope  you 
will  live  long  enough  yet  to  tell  them  all  about  it  your- 


138  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

self.  You  have  a  first-rate  chance  now  to  study  the 
habits  and  appearance  of  these  'havilinas,'  and  can 
write  a  chapter  on  them  that  will  be  very  interesting, 
and  true  to  nature.  How  will  you  describe  them?" 
I  asked. 

*'They  look  to  me,"  he  answered,  "like  a  couple  of 
butcher-knives  about  as  long  as  my  arm,  stuck  into  a 
handle  covered  with  hair  and  bristles !" 

"And  can  you  tell  me,"  I  said,  "what  particular 
tribe  of  animals  they  belong  to?" 

"Captain,"  he  answered,  "I  don't  feel  inclined  to 
discuss  the  subject  just  now,  particularly  as  the  subject 
is  so  eager  to  discuss  me ;  and  besides,  to  tell  you  the 
truth,  I  think  you  have  selected  a  most  unsuitable 
time  for  propounding  your  questions  in  natural  his- 
tory. Oh,  my !  there  goes  the  leg  of  my  pants,  and  a 
strip  of  the  hide  with  it!" 

"Mr.  Author,"  I  said,  pretending  not  to  hear  his 
remarks,  "I  recollect  once  reading  a  chapter  in  one  of 
Mr.  Cooper's  novels,  in  which  he  gives  a  very  inter- 
esting account  of  the  immense  droves  of  wild  pigeons 
that  were  migrating  from  one  part  of  the  country  to 
another,  and — " 

"Oh,  bother  Cooper,  I  say!"  said  our  author,  be- 
coming perfectly  frantic,  as  a  thorn  touched  him  up  in 
the  rear,  and  a  pig  made  a  dash  at  his  legs  in  front. 
"Cooper  is  an  unmitigated  humbug,  and  I  begin  to 
think  you  are  not  much  better.  Oh,  I  can  stand  this  no 
longer,"  said  he,  "and  I'll  make  a  finish  of  it  at  once;" 
and  I  verily  believe  he  would  have  jumped  down 
right  among  the  hogs  in  another  moment;  but  just 
then  I  saw  several  of  my  men  coming  toward  us  from 
camp,  and  said  to  him : 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  I39 

"Hold  on  a  minute,  Mr.  Author;  there  come  some 
men  to  help  us,  and  we'll  soon  rout  the  beasts  now." 

Seeing  that  we  were  both  treed  by  some  sort  of 
"varmints,"  the  men  hurried  up,  shot  several  of  the 
hogs,  and  the  balance,  finding  we  mustered  too  strong 
for  them,  quickly  retreated  into  the  chaparral. 

Our  author  came  down  from  his  roost,  and  threw 
himself  at  full  length  upon  the  ground,  for  the  pur- 
pose, as  he  said,  of  getting  the  tucks  out  of  his  legs. 
After  he  had  rested  himself  for  awhile,  and  picked 
out  all  the  thorns  that  had  been  left  sticking  in  his 
flesh,  he  rose  up  considerably  refreshed  in  mind  and 
body,  and  we  walked  back  toward  camp. 

"I  am  afraid,  Mr.  Author,"  said  I,  as  we  sauntered 
along,  "you  will  begin  to  think  you  are  paying  pretty 
dearly  for  the  information  you  are  collecting  in  the 
wilderness." 

"Not  at  all,  captain,"  he  answered,  "for  I  know 
that  no  great  undertaking  was  ever  accomplished 
without  labor  and  many  difficulties  to  be  overcome.  A 
novel  such  as  I  intend  the  'Wayworn  Wanderer'  to  be, 
cannot  be  written  except  by  one  thoroughly  posted  on 
the  subjects  of  which  it  treats.  I  will  confess,  how- 
ever, that  once  or  twice  since  I  came  out  (particularly 
when  I  was  in  that  disagreeable  position  on  top  of  the 
chaparral-bush)  I  have  wished  I  had  never  under- 
taken the  job;  but  that,  you  see,  was  only  a  momen- 
tary weakness,  and  I  shall  not  give  way  to  it  hereafter. 
'Richard's  himself  again,'  "  he  said,  flapping  his  arms 
across  his  breast  like  a  play-actor. 

Now,  there  was  one  thing  of  which  our  author  was 
exceedingly  afraid,  and  that  was  a  snake.  He  was  in 


I40  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

constant  fear  of  them,  day  and  night,  and,  like  all 
people  who  have  a  great  dread  of  snakes,  he  could 
find  more  of  them  in  the  course  of  the  day  than  any 
six  men  in  the  company.  He  was  forever  finding 
snakes,  at  all  times,  and  in  localities,  where  nobody 
else  could  have  found  one  if  he  had  hunted  closely  for 
a  week.  Now,  it  so  happened  that  just  as  he  made 
this  last  heroic  speech,  and  in  the  very  act  of  flapping 
his  arms  against  his  breast,  he  put  his  foot  upon  a 
large  rattlesnake  that  was  coiled  up  in  a  bunch  of 
grass.  The  snake  rattled,  and  struck  his  teeth  into  his 
buckskin  leggings. 

"Oh!  oh!"  he  sang  out,  dropping  his  feathers  like 
a  strutting  gobbler  when  he  hears  a  gun  go  off,  at  the 
same  time  making  a  most  extraordinary  leap  to  one 
side ;  "I  am  gone  now  to  a  certainty.  This  reptile  has 
bitten  me  to  the  bone." 

When  the  snake  struck  him,  the  fangs  penetrated 
partially  into  the  tough,  spongy  buckskin  of  his  leg- 
gings, and  as  our  author  sprang  off  he  dragged  the 
snake  along  with  him.  The  moment  he  discovered 
that  the  snake  was  fastened  to  him,  he  kicked  out 
frantically  with  his  legs,  and  exclaimed,  in  the  most 
piteous  accents  : 

"Take  him  off,  captain,  for  heaven's  sake;  take  him 
off  before  he  swallows  me  alive." 

The  snake  was  torn  loose  after  the  first  vigorous 
kick;  in  the  excitement  of  the  moment,  however,  our 
author  never  noticed  it,  but  continued  his  kicking  until 
at  last  he  fell  to  the  ground  from  pure  exhaustion, 
where  he  lay  rolling  and  squirming  apparently  in  the 
greatest  agony.  I  ran  up  to  him,  and  taking  hold  of 
him,  said : 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  I4I 

''Mr.  Author,  are  you  bit?" 

"Bit !"  said  he ;  "you  can't  put  your  finger  on  a  place 
that  isn't  bit.  I'm  poisoned  from  head  to  foot  by  the 
reptile!  The  jig  is  up  with  me  now,  certain.  Oh! 
what  a  fool  I  was  to  venture  out  into  this  howling 
wilderness,  where  you  can't  go  forty  yards  from  camp 
without  running  a  great  risk  of  being  devoured  by 
some  wild  beast,  nor  put  your  foot  down  without 
treading  on  a  snake." 

I  really  feared  at  first  that  the  snake  had  bitten  him, 
and  I  hastily  rolled  up  his  leggings  and  looked  for  the 
wound,  but  couldn't  find  the  slightest  sign  of  one,  ex- 
cept some  scratches  made  by  the  thorns  of  the  chapar- 
ral bush. 

"Mr.  Author,"  said  I,  "you  are  all  safe;  the  snake 
hasn't  even  grazed  the  skin." 

"Are  you  sure  he  hasn't  bit  me?"  he  asked. 

"Yes,"  I  replied,  "I'll  warrant  your  life  for  a  gin- 
gercake.  Why,  Mr.  Author,"  I  continued,  "you  are 
in  luck  to-day.  You  have  scarcely  finished  your  ad- 
venture with  the  havilinas  when  here  you  are  collect- 
ing material  enough  for  another  thrilling  chapter  of 
the  'Wayworn  Wanderer'." 

"Yes,"  said  he,  "that's  true  enough,  and  I  can  work 
up  a  very  interesting  chapter  on  'snakes'  out  of  this, 
there  is  no  doubt ;  but,  let  me  tell  you,  I  don't  want  to 
collect  'material'  quite  so  rapidly.  I  would  rather 
these  incidents  would  occur  a  little  wider  apart,  and 
give  me  time  enough  to  catch  my  breath.  'Enough  is 
as  good  as  a  feast.'  I  am  willing  to  make  a  martyr  of 
myself  now  and  then  for  the  sake  of  immortality,  but 
I  can't  afford  to  do  it  every  fifteen  minutes  in  the  day." 


142  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

We  got  back  to  camp  without  any  further  incident 
happening  on  the  way,  but  I  caught  an  idea  from  the 
last  which  I  resolved  to  carry  out  for  the  benefit  of  our 
author,  the  first  good  opportunity  that  might  present 
itself,  and  thus  furnish  him  with  the  "material"  for 
another  thrilling  chapter  of  the  "Wayworn  Wan- 
derer." 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

Another  Rattlesnake — How  to  Manage  Rattlesnakes— Terrific 
Adventure  with  a  Grape-vine  Rattlesnake. 


T 


|/^]f  ^HE  next  day  I  rode  along  with  our  author, 
knowing  if  there  was  a  rattlesnake  on  the  road 
he  would  be  sure  to  find  it;  and  in  fact  he  soon 
stirred  up  one,  and  I  got  down  and  killed  it  and  pulled 
off  its  rattles,  which  I  slipped  into  my  pocket,  unno- 
ticed by  our  author.  "Captain,"  said  he,  as  I  re- 
mounted, "how  in  the  world  have  you  managed  to  live 
so  long  and  camp  out  so  much  at  night  in  this  wilder- 
ness without  ever  having  been  bitten  by  a  rattle- 
snake?" 

"Why,  you  see,"  I  answered,  "if  you  don't  lose 
your  presence  of  mind,  there's  very  little  danger  of  a 
rattlesnake's  biting  you,  even  when  he  crawls  to  bed 
with  you  at  night.  When  you  discover  one  crawling 
under  your  blankets,  all  you've  got  to  do  is  to  lie  still 
and  let  him  fix  himself  to  his  notion  (and  they  always 
pick  out  the  warmest  places) ,  and  as  soon  as  he  is  fast 
asleep,  you  can  jump  up  without  the  least  danger  of 
being  bitten;  but  if  you  should  move  a  peg  before  he 
has  settled  himself,  he'll  'nip  you'  to  a  certainty." 

"Yes,"  replied  our  author,  "but  who  could  lie  still 
under  such  circumstances?" 

"I  have,"  said  I,  "a  hundred  times.  One  dark  night, 
about  a  year  ago,  when  I  was  camping  near  the  edge 
of  a  thick  chaparral,  I  felt  a  fellow  crawling  under  my 
blanket.  I  lay  perfectly  still,  and  let  him  select  his  own 
locality,  and  nothing  would  do  him  but  a  place  right 


144  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

along  side  of  my  face.  I  tell  you  it  was  pretty  hard 
work  to  keep  quiet  when  I  felt  his  scaly  sides  rubbing 
up  against  my  neck  and  face,  as  he  slowly  wound  him- 
self in  his  coil.  After  he  had  fixed  himself  to  his 
notion,  I  lay  perfectly  still  a  few  moments  longer,  to 
make  sure  he  was  asleep,  and  then  sprang  up  suddenly, 
and  striking  a  light,  soon  had  the  gentleman's  head 
mashed  as  flat  as  a  pancake.  Remember,  Mr.  Au- 
thor,"! continued,  "there's  no  danger  at  all  of  a  rattle- 
snake's biting  you  at  night,  if  you  only  lie  still  and 
keep  quiet  until  he  settles  himself." 

"Yes,"  said  our  author ;  "but  who  could  lie  still  and 
keep  quiet  (unless  he  was  made  out  of  cast-iron)  while 
a  rattlesnake  was  slowly  coiling  itself  up  in  his  bosom  ? 
Ugh !  the  bare  idea  makes  me  shudder  from  head  to 
foot." 

I  saw  that  my  "snake  story"  had  produced  the  de- 
sired effect  upon  him,  and  for  the  time  I  dropped  the 
subject.  The  next  night  we  encamped  in  a  very  snaky- 
looking  locality,  and  I  cut  off  a  piece  of  grape-vine 
about  as  thick  as  an  ordinary  rattlesnake,  which  I 
slyly  slipped  under  the  edge  of  our  blanket  just  before 
we  "turned  in."  About  half  an  hour  after  we  had  lain 
down,  I  drew  out  the  slip  of  grape-vine  and  ran  it 
slowly  along  the  author's  back,  at  the  same  time 
gently  shaking  my  rattles,  which  I  held  in  the  other 
hand.  He  was  just  on  the  eve  of  dropping  off  to  sleep, 
but  the  crawling  motion  and  the  "rattling"  aroused 
him  in  an  instant. 

"Oh!  murder,  captain,"  said  he,  "there's  a  rattle- 
snake crawling  along  my  back !  What  in  the  world  am 
I  to  do?" 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  I45 

"I  know  it,"  I  answered,  "I  hear  him  rattling  now 
(and  I  gently  shook  the  rattles  I  held  in  my  hand). 
Lie  still,  and  don't  move  a  muscle  until  he  coils  up." 

"Oh,  yes,"  said  the  poor  fellow  (and  his  teeth  fairly 
chattered  from  fright),  "it's  easy  enough  for  you  to 
say  lie  still  when  I  am  between  you  and  the  snake,  but 
it  isn't  so  easy  for  me,  for  I  can  feel  him  squirming 
along  my  back  now." 

"I  know  that,"  said  I,  "but  you  must  lie  still,  for  the 
first  motion  you  make,  he  will  have  his  fangs  into  you, 
sure." 

"Oh!"  said  the  poor  fellow,  as  I  gave  the  vine 
another  serpentine  twist  along  his  back,  "this  is  more 
than  human  nature  can  bear — ugh!  ugh!  Captain, 
can't  you  do  anything  for  me?" 

"There's  no  danger  at  all,"  I  said,  "if  you  will  only 
keep  still;  he  will  soon  settle  himself,  and  then  you 
can  jump  up  without  the  least  risk  of  being  bitten. 
When  he  quits  rattling  altogether,"  said  I,  shaking 
the  rattles  in  my  hand,  "you  will  know  that  he's 
asleep." 

"Captain,"  he  replied,  in  a  faint  and  husky  voice, 
as  I  gave  the  vine  another  twist  and  shook  the  rattles, 
"this  is  past  endurance.  I  must  get  out  of  this  at  all 
hazards." 

"Unless  you  want  to  die,"  said  I,  "don't  do  it,  but 
lie  as  still  as  a  mouse  when  puss  is  about.  By  the  way, 
Mr.  Author,"  said  I,  "can  you  tell  me  whether  the 
rattlesnake  is  confined  to  the  American  continent,  or 
if  he  is  to  be  found  also  in  other  countries?  I  have 
heard  a  great  many  opposite  opinions  on  the  subject, 
some  pretend  to  think,"  I  continued,  giving  the  vine 


146  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

another  twist,  "that  they  are  a  species  of  the  Cobra  di 
Capello,  the  most  poisonous  serpent  in  the  world." 

"Captain,"  said  our  author,  getting  the  better  of 
his  fright  for  the  moment,  in  his  indignation  at  being 
asked  such  an  untimely  question,  "I  like  an  inquiring 
mind,  but  I  must  say  that  you  select  the  strangest  occa- 
sions imaginable  for  obtaining  information  upon  such 
subjects.  Why,  man,"  he  continued,  in  a  rage,  and 
totally  unsuspicious  that  I  was  playing  upon  him,  "do 
you  suppose  a  man  is  in  a  condition  to  anwser  any 
question  rationally  with  a  rattlesnake  spooning  up  to 
his  back?" 

"There  is  no  doubt,"  said  I,  pretending  not  to 
notice  what  he  had  said,  and  giving  the  vine  another 
rake  along  his  back,  "that  if  they  are  not  a  species  of 
the  Cobra,  they  are  just  as  poisonous,  for  I  have  seen 
a  man  die  in  twenty  minutes  after  he  had  been  bitten 
by  one  of  them.  There  was  Jake  Thompson,  who  was 
bit  on  the  foot  by  one,  when  we  were  scouting  a  year 
or  two  ago  on  the  Nueces,  and  he  didn't  live  long 
enough  to  say  'Jack  Robinson,  Junior;'  and  yet  in  that 
little  time  he  turned  as  black  in  the  face  as  a  negro, 
and  his  body  swelled  up  till  he  was  as  big  as  a  'skinned 
horse'." 

"Captain,"  said  he,  "will  you  do  me  the  favor  to 
postpone  the  balance  of  that  interesting  story  for  an- 
other occasion?  I'll  back  you  against  the  world  for 
picking  out  the  most  unsuitable  times  for  telling  your 
yarns." 

"Oh!  I  beg  your  pardon,"  said  I,  "I  forgot  you 
wasn't  broke  into  the  ways  of  the  wilderness  yet. 
When  you  have  'bunked'  with  a  hundred  rattlesnakes, 
as  I  have  done,  you  won't  mind  it  a  bit.    I  recollect 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 47 

about  six  years  ago,  when  Bill  Hanklns  and  me  were 
out  hunting  on  the  head-waters  of  the  Leon,  we 
camped  one  night — " 

"Oh!  good  gracious,"  said  the  author,  "Bill  Han- 
kins  again,  and  the  head-waters  of  the  Leon!  Cap- 
tain, I  want  you  to  distinctly  understand  that  I've 
heard  just  as  much  as  I  desire  of  Bill  Hankins  and  the 
head-waters  of  Leon,  and — " 

"Oh!  very  well,"  I  said,  interrupting  him  in  turn, 
and  shaking  my  rattles,  and  screwing  the  vine  into  the 
small  of  his  back,  "IVe  no  wish  at  all  to  force  my 
stories  upon  you." 

"Ugh!"  said  the  poor  fellow,  "this  is  past  all  en- 
durance. Captain,  remember  me  to  all  inquiring 
friends,  and  don't  forget  that  the  manuscript  of  the 
'Wayworn  Wanderer'  is  in  my  saddle-bags.  Give  it 
to  the  world  with  all  its  imperfections!" 

"Hold  on  just  one  minute  longer,"  I  said,  giving 
the  rattles  a  vicious  shake,  "and  you  will  be  all  right." 

"Not  another  second,"  he  cried,  "it's  no  use  talk- 
ing, I  may  just  as  well  die  one  way  as  another,"  and 
he  made  a  desperate  bound  from  under  the  blanket, 
and  pitched  head  foremost  on  the  ground  ten  or 
twelve  paces  off. 

I  seized  a  bottle  of  "Chili  pepper-sauce"  and  ran  to 
where  he  was  lying.  "Here,  Mr.  Author,"  I  said, 
"drink  this  quick !"  He  took  it,  and  in  the  hurry  and 
excitement  of  the  moment,  hastily  swallowed  about  a 
pint  of  the  contents. 

"Gracious,"  said  I,  "you  have  made  another  won- 
derful escape." 

"I  don't  know  so  well  about  that,"  said  he,  sputter- 
ing and  gasping  for  breath.  "I'm  afraid  I'm  bit." 


148  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

*'Do  you  feel,"  I  asked,  *'as  if  you  were  up  to  your 
waist  in  a  kettle  of  melted  lead?" 

"Not  exactly,"  he  replied,  drawing  his  breath 
through  his  teeth,  "but  I  feel  as  though  I  had  swal- 
lowed a  quart  or  so  of  it." 

"Then,"  said  I,  "you  are  all  safe,  and  you  have 
made  the  most  wonderful  escape  on  record.  No  one 
before  has  ever  missed  being  bit,  who  sprang  off  as 
you  did,  before  the  snake  had  coiled  himself  up.  A 
most  extraordinary  escape,  truly,"  I  continued. 

"What  in  the  world,"  said  he,  "was  that  stuff  you 
gave  me  just  now?" 

"That,"  replied  I,  "is  an  antidote  I  always  keep  for 
the  bite  of  snakes.  I  got  it  from  Tuppy's  Foot,'  the 
Tonkawa  chief,  and  if  taken  in  time  it  will  kill  the 
poison  of  the  most  venomous  snake." 

"I  have  no  doubt  of  it,"  said  our  author;  "it  would 
kill  old  Satan  himself.  It  is  hot  enough  to  scald  the 
throat  out  of  a  brass  monkey.  For  mercy's  sake,  give 
me  some  water  to  cool  my  coppers." 

I  handed  over  the  gourd  to  him,  and  he  took  a  long 
swig  at  it,  then  seating  himself  on  a  log  by  the  fire,  in 
spite  of  my  remonstrances,  he  persisted  in  sitting  up 
the  balance  of  the  night. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Fresh  Signs  of  the  Indians — Our  Author  in  Trouble  Again- 
Scatter  Guns  Compared  with  Bows  and  Arrows. 


I 


JA]J  >|HE  next  morning,  the  little  author  looked  so 
pale  and  haggard,  after  his  terrible  encounter 
with  the  snake,  I  really  felt  sorry  for  him,  and 
inwardly  resolved  that  I  would  play  no  more  such 
practical  jokes  upon  him.  However,  he  had  got  such 
a  scare  that  from  that  time  until  his  return  to  the 
"settlements,"  he  never  slept  again  upon  the  ground. 
By  means  of  a  blanket  and  a  staking  rope,  the  first 
thing  he  did  of  an  evening  when  we  stopped  to  camp 
was  to  rig  up  an  impromptu  hammock,  which  he  would 
stretch  between  two  trees,  out  of  the  reach  of  snakes 
and  other  varmints,  and  in  this  airy  roosting-place  he 
would  safely  swing  till  morning. 

Day  after  day,  we  followed  our  Indian  trail  with 
dogged  perseverance,  never  leaving  it  for  a  moment, 
except  when  we  were  in  search  of  a  suitable  camping- 
place  for  the  night.  On  the  morning  of  the  fifteenth 
day  after  leaving  my  ranch  on  the  Medina,  we  struck 
the  range  of  high  hills  in  which  the  head-waters  of  the 
Guadalupe  take  their  rise.  Here,  the  trail  was  so 
fresh,  and  other  indications  of  the  proximity  of  the 
Indians  were  so  apparent,  that  I  determined  to  move 
forward  with  the  utmost  caution,  as  I  could  hope  to 
effect  nothing  of  importance  with  the  small  force  I 
had  with  me,  except  by  taking  the  Indians  by  surprise. 
I  therefore  struck  camp  in  a  little  valley,  shut  in  on 


150  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

all  sides  by  high  hills,  and  sent  forward,  on  foot,  two 
of  my  most  experienced  trailers  to  reconnoitre. 

I  had  issued  strict  orders  against  the  firing  of  guns, 
for  fear  some  straggling  Indians  might  be  in  the  vicin- 
ity and  give  the  alarm,  and  I  was,  therefore,  much 
astonished  when,  a  short  time  after  we  had  halted,  I 
heard  the  report  of  a  gun  in  camp ;  and  looking  round 
I  discovered  our  little  author  running  toward  me  for 
dear  life,  and  a  big  fellow  by  the  name  of  Bill  Haw- 
kins in  close  pursuit  of  him,  with  a  poking  stick  in  his 
hand,  which  he  evidently  intended  to  make  use  of  as 
soon  as  he  could  get  within  striking  distance.  It  was 
*'nip  and  tuck"  between  them,  but  the  little  author 
fairly  kept  the  lead  until  he  reached  me,  when  he 
jumped  behind  my  back  as  nimbly  as  he  had  done 
behind  the  tree  when  the  buck  was  after  him  upon  a 
former  occasion. 

"Hello !"  said  I  to  Hawkins,  as  he  came  up,  puffing 
and  blowing,  "what's  the  row  now?" 

"Look  here,  captain,"  said  he,  pulling  at  a  few 
crisped  remnants  of  hair  that  still  hung  to  one  side  of 
his  head,  "look  what  that  dratted  author  has  done  to 
me !  He's  let  off  his  little  'scatter  gun'  right  into  my 
face,  and  hasn't  left  hair  enough  on  my  head  for  a  nit 
to  hatch  in.  Phew !  I  smell  worse  than  a  singed  'pos- 
sum !  The  little  varmint  ain't  no  more  fit  to  handle  a 
gun  than  a  ribbed-nose  baboon." 

"See  here,  my  friend,"  said  our  little  author,  step- 
ping boldly  forward,  and  beginning  to  shuck  off  his 
coat,  "the  firing  of  my  gun  was  entirely  accidental, 
and  I  am  sorry  I  singed  your  hair  off  in  that  way;  but 
if  you  are  determined  to  make  a  fighting  matter  of  it, 
you  can  'pitch  in'  as  soon  as  you  please." 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  15  I 

Bill  weighed  about  two  hundred  pounds,  exclusive 
of  accoutrements,  and  was  known  all  over  the  country 
as  the  toughest  hand  in  a  bear-fight  west  of  Colorado 
River ;  but  when  he  saw  the  little  author  spunking  up 
to  him  in  that  way,  and  beginning  to  peel  in  readiness 
for  a  fight,  his  anger  was  gone  in  a  moment,  and  a 
good-natured  smile  spread  over  his  weather-beaten 
features. 

"Well,"  said  he,  "my  little  fellow,  I  'spose  the  gun 
did  go  off  accidentally,  but  I've  noticed  they  always  do 
so  (unless  they  snap)  when  they  are  loaded  and  some- 
body cocks  'em  and  pulls  the  trigger.  However,  we'll 
not  fight  about  it  this  time,  for  the  fact  is,"  Bill  con- 
tinued, winking  at  me,  and  looking  down  upon  the 
"scant  pattern"  of  the  little  author,  "you  rather  *over- 
size  my  pile ;'  so  you  kin  just  put  on  your  coat  agin  for 
the  present.  I'm  snapped,  though,  if  you  ever  git  an- 
other showing  at  my  head  with  that  pop-gun  of 
yourn;"  and  saying  this.  Bill  stalked  back  to  his  camp, 
smoothing  down  as  he  went  along  the  singed  and 
crisped  remnants  of  his  yellow  locks. 

"It's  too  bad,"  said  the  little  author,  in  a  vexed 
tone,  "but  that  is  certainly  the  most  perverse  gun  of 
mine  that  was  ever  made.  Whenever  I  want  it  to 
shoot,  I  can't  get  it  to  go  off  unless  I  stick  a  chunk  of 
fire  to  the  touch-hole ;  but  when  I  least  expect  it,  bang ! 
it  goes  without  the  least  provocation  in  the  world.  I 
wish  I  could  swap  it  for  a  good  bow  and  arrows! 
They  never  go  off  till  you  are  ready;  and,  besides, 
there  is  a  sort  of  romance  associated  with  archery  that 
carries  one  back  to  the  days  of  chivalry — of  cloth- 
yard  shafts,  and  the  good  old  times  of  Robin  Hood." 

"Well,"  said  I,  not  understanding  exactly  what  our 


152  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

author  meant  by  all  this  rigmarole,  "I  have  seen  a 
great  many  men  in  my  time  spitted  with  ^dogwood 
switches,'  but  I  never  heard  one  of  them  yet  com- 
plain of  feeling  anyways  romantic  under  the  circum- 
stances. But  the  truth  is,  Mr.  Author,  if  you  only 
understood  the  use  of  'em,  you  might  have  a  worse 
weapon  than  a  good  bow  and  arrows ;  at  least,  I  know 
they  are  pretty  dangerous  in  the  hands  of  an  Indian. 
They  can  shoot  their  arrows  faster  than  you  can  fire 
a  revolver,  and  almost  with  the  accuracy  of  a  rifle  at 
the  distance  of  fifty  or  sixty  yards,  and  with  such  force 
that  I  have  frequently  seen  them  drive  a  shaft  through 
and  through  a  full-grown  buffalo. 

''I  remember  once,  in  a  little  scrimmage  we  had 
with  the  Indians  on  the  head  of  the  Leon  ('Oh,  my!' 
exclaimed  the  author,  'there's  the  head  of  that  Leon 
again!'),  I  saw  one  of  them  drive  an  arrow  through 
a  man  at  the  distance  of  seventy-five  or  eighty  paces, 
and  into  another,  who  was  standing  just  behind  him; 
and  there  they  were,  fastened  together  like  a  couple 
of  Siamese  twins.  The  man  in  front  was  killed  in- 
stantly, but  the  one  behind  at  length  kicked  loose  from 
the  traces  and  eventually  got  well,  though  he  carries 
the  head  of  the  arrow  in  his  breast  to  this  day. 

"The  heads  of  the  arrows  used  in  war  are  barbed, 
and  fastened  on  very  slightly  with  deer  sinews,  so  that 
when  an  attempt  is  made  to  extract  them  from  any- 
thing into  which  they  may  be  driven,  they  are  almost 
always  left  behind  in  the  wound.  The  only  alternative 
is  to  push  them  through^  whatever  may  be  in  their 
way — heart,  liver,  or  lungs ;  but  this,  as  you  may  well 
suppose,  is  a  very  dangerous  operation,  and  besides, 
not  a  very  pleasant  one,  even  when  not  followed  by 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  153 

fatal  consequences.  There  Is  one  serious  drawback, 
however,  to  the  bow  and  arrows  in  the  hands  of  the 
Indians,  and  that  is,  that  they  are  almost  useless  in 
very  damp  or  rainy  weather,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
strings  they  use  are  made  of  deer  sinews,  which 
stretch  so  much  when  wet  that  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  keep  the  bow  properly  strung;  and,  for  this  reason, 
it  is  always  most  prudent  to  attack  an  Indian  force  in 
misty  or  rainy  weather,  for  they  have  to  rely,  then, 
mainly  upon  their  old  flint-and-steel  guns,  which  are 
poor  weapons  except  at  very  close  quarters.  There," 
said  I,  ''Mr.  Author,  are  some  facts  in  regard  to 
archery  which  you  may  note  down  in  the  'Wayworn 
Wanderer'  as  beyond  dispute." 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

The  Indians  Overtaken — Desperate  Fight — The  Author  Proves 
Himself  a  Good  Soldier — The  Indian  Girl — The  Author  Has 
a  Race  for  His  Life — The  Umbrella  Comes  in  Play — Gath- 
ering Up  the  Spoils — The  Horses  Recovered — Farewell  to 
the  Author. 

A  LITTLE  before  sundown,  the  trailers  I  had 
/^L  sent  out  reported  that  they  had  discovered 
-^L  )\  a  large  Indian  camp  about  six  miles  beyond 
where  we  were,  and  that  they  were  confident  the  In- 
dians had  no  suspicion  of  our  proximity.  I  at  once 
determined  to  make  an  early  start  next  morning,  so 
as  to  reach  the  Indian  camp  about  daylight.  Every- 
thing was  got  in  readiness  for  the  move,  and  by  3 
o'clock  we  were  all  mounted  and  on  trail  again.  There 
was  no  moon,  and  the  night  consequently  was  very 
dark,  but  we  found  no  difficulty  in  following  the  trail, 
as  our  guides  had  so  recently  passed  over  it. 

Just  as  the  first  streak  of  daylight  became  visible  in 
the  east,  we  came  in  view  of  the  Indian  encampment, 
situated  in  a  pecan  grove  in  the  centre  of  a  beautiful 
valley,  which  was  hemmed  in  by  high  rugged  hills  on 
all  sides,  except  in  the  direction  we  were  approaching 
it.  The  smokes  from  their  smouldering  fires  rose  up 
in  slim  straight  columns  above  the  trees,  and  not  a 
sound  disturbed  the  deep  silence  that  reigned  around, 
except  the  occasional  yelp  of  a  cur  in  the  encampment, 
or  the  distant  howling  of  a  wolf  among  the  hills. 

The  Indians  evidently  had  had  no  notice  of  our 
approach.  As  I  gazed  upon  the  quiet  and  peaceful 
scene,  I  could  not  help  feeling  some  compunctions  of 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  155 

conscience  for  the  ^'bloody  awakening"  that  was  soon 
to  rouse  up  my  old  friends  and  allies  from  their  morn- 
ing slumbers;  but  then,  when  I  thought  of  the 
^'scurvy,"  rascally  trick  they  had  played  me,  I  dis- 
missed all  such  ideas  from  my  mind,  and  made  my 
arrangements  for  an  immediate  attack  upon  the  en- 
campment. 

About  one-half  of  my  men,  led  by  Nathans,  an  old 
Rocky  Mountain  hunter,  I  sent  around  to  the  left, 
under  cover  of  a  low  range  of  hills,  with  instructions 
to  attack  the  Indians  in  the  rear,  whilst  I  slowly  moved 
forward  with  the  balance  to  assail  them  in  front.  A 
discharge  of  guns  from  the  first  party  was  to  be  a 
signal  for  a  general  assault. 

I  advanced  my  party  to  within  one  hundred  and 
fifty  yards  of  the  encampment  under  cover  of  a  thicket 
of  dogwood,  and  there  halted  to  wait  for  the  con- 
certed signal.  In  a  few  minutes  the  keen  report  of  a 
dozen  rifles  was  heard  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  en- 
campment, warning  us  that  the  time  for  action  had 
arrived,  and  putting  spurs  to  our  horses,  we  dashed 
furiously  into  the  Indian  village,  and  dismounting 
from  our  horses,  we  poured  in  a  deadly  fire  from  our 
rifles  and  "repeaters"  upon  the  warriors,  as  they 
rushed  out,  confused  and  frightened,  from  the  doors 
of  their  lodges.  But,  although  taken  completely  by 
surprise,  they  fought  with  great  desperation  and  ob- 
stinacy, and  for  half  an  hour  the  possession  of  the 
camp  was  hotly  contested  by  both  parties.  At  one 
time  I  thought  I  should  be  compelled  to  beat  a  retreat, 
for  the  Indians  greatly  outnumbered  us,  but  just  at 
this  juncture  the  fall  of  one  of  their  head  chiefs  threw 
them  into  momentary  confusion,  and  taking  advan- 


156  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

tage  of  it,  we  charged  them  so  vigorously  that  they  at 
length  slowly  and  sullenly  retreated  into  a  thick  chap- 
arral in  the  vicinity  of  their  camp,  leaving  twenty- 
seven  of  their  warriors  dead  upon  the  ground.  Their 
wounded  they  carried  off  with  them. 

During  the  fight,  I  noticed  our  author  several  times 
busily  "pegging  away"  with  his  little  bird-gun,  and 
every  now  and  then  yelling  like  a  "tiger  cat,"  when- 
ever he  saw  an  Indian  fall,  but  I  am  very  sure 
(although  I  believe  his  will  was  good)  that  nothing 
ever  fell  before  his  fire,  except  the  top  of  a  mesquite- 
bush,  a  few  feet  from  the  muzzle  of  his  gun.  He  was, 
however,  evidently  under  the  impression  himself  that 
everything  depended  upon  his  personal  exertions,  and 
he  "blazed  away"  and  hurrahed,  and  jumped  around, 
ordering  this  one  to  do  that,  and  that  one  to  do  this, 
until  he  was  in  a  lather  of  sweat,  and  looked  like  a 
stunted  coal-heaver,  on  account  of  the  way  in  which 
he  had  smeared  his  hands  and  face  with  gunpowder. 
The  men,  of  course,  paid  no  attention  to  his  orders; 
nevertheless  the  little  author  evidently  had  risen  a 
hundred  per  cent  in  their  estimation  from  the  courage 
he  displayed,  and  the  recklessness  with  which  he  ex- 
posed himself  to  the  fire  of  the  Indians. 

In  the  very  height  of  the  engagement,  and  just  at 
the  time  I  began  to  think  seriously  of  quitting  the  field, 
I  heard  a  shrill  voice  exclaim,  "Oh,  que,  Wallace !" 
and  a  young  Indian  girl  darted  out  of  a  lodge  near  by, 
and  seizing  the  skirt  of  my  hunting-shirt,  she  clung  to 
it  frantically  until  the  fight  was  over,  and  the  warriors 
were  in  the  act  of  retreating. 

I  felt  sorry  for  the  poor  little  thing,  and  tried  my 
best,  by  keeping  her  behind  me,  to  shield  her  from  the 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  157 

bullets  and  arrows  that  were  flying  about  thick  and 
fast ;  but  unluckily,  in  the  very  last  volley  the  Indians 
gave  us,  a  stray  bullet  struck  her  full  in  the  breast,  and 
she  sank  to  the  ground.  I  dropped  my  rifle  and  raised 
her  up  in  my  arms,  but  I  saw  in  a  moment  that  she  had 
received  a  fatal  wound,  for  her  eyes  were  already 
glazing,  and  she  was  gasping  for  breath.  I  laid  her 
down  upon  the  soft  green  grass  at  the  foot  of  a  pecan- 
tree,  and  for  an  instant  she  seemed  to  revive.  Look- 
ing sorrowfully  at  me,  she  said,  in  broken  English  and 
Spanish: 

"Oh,  Capitan  Wallace,  I  know  you.  Mi  madre — 
mi  pobrecito  padre — no  kill  'em — adios" — and  then 
a  slight  shudder  passed  over  her,  her  head  gently  fell 
back  upon  my  arm,  and  the  poor  little  thing  was  be- 
yond the  trials  and  troubles  of  this  wicked  world. 

The  sort  of  life  that  I  had  led  had  not  been  one 
particularly  to  soften  a  fellow's  heart,  but  I  am  not 
ashamed  to  own,  as  I  gazed  upon  the  stiffening  form 
of  this  forest  child,  so  cruelly  cut  down  by  the  hands 
of  her  own  friends  and  relatives,  that  my  eyes  were 
dimmed  with  tears,  and  I  sincerely  wished  on  her 
account  that  I  had  permitted  her  tribe  to  go  unpun- 
ished for  breaking  the  treaty  they  had  made  with  me. 

However,  it  was  too  late  then  to  indulge  in  useless 
regrets;  and  in  fact  I  had  no  time  to  do  so,  for  the 
Indians,  when  they  retreated,  had  quickly  made  off  for 
some  place  in  the  vicinity  where  their  horses  were 
staked  out,  and  mounting  them,  they  returned  and  re- 
newed the  fight  with  greater  obstinacy  than  ever.  We 
mounted  our  horses,  also,  and  in  this  way  the  contest 
for  the  possession  of  the  village  was  continued  for 
half  an  hour  longer.  But,  although  they  outnumbered 


158  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

US  Still  at  least  two  to  one,  the  superiority  of  our 
weapons,  especially  our  revolvers,  which  at  that  time 
were  almost  unknown  to  the  Indians,  more  than  made 
up  for  our  deficiency  in  numbers,  and  they  at  length 
gave  way.  Breaking  up  into  little  squads,  they  fled  in 
every  direction  before  my  men,  who  followed  them  in 
the  same  disorderly  manner. 

Just  at  this  stage  of  the  game,  having  seen  nothing 
of  our  little  author  for  some  time,  I  looked  around  to 
ascertain  what  had  become  of  him.  Casting  my  eyes 
up  the  open  valley  to  our  left,  I  saw  him  coming  "full 
split"  toward  me,  on  "Old  Paint,"  bare-headed  and 
apparently  unarmed,  and  a  half  dozen  mounted  In- 
dians in  close  pursuit  of  him.  Two  or  three  of  us,  who 
happened  to  be  near  by,  immediately  spurred  our 
horses  and  galloped  out  to  meet  him,  to  help  him  in 
any  way  we  could  in  making  good  his  retreat,  although 
from  the  rapidity  with  which  the  Indians  lessened  the 
distance  between  the  little  author  and  themselves,  I 
had  but  faint  hopes  that  we  could  reach  him  before 
they  came  up  with  him.  "Old  Paint,"  however,  held 
his  own  much  better  than  any  one  would  have  sup- 
posed possible ;  but  at  length  the  foremost  Indian  rode 
up  so  near  that  we  saw  him  draw  back  his  lance,  for 
the  purpose  of  driving  it  through  our  little  friend.  At 
that  moment  I  gave  him  up  for  lost,  but  the  little 
author,  it  seems,  had  his  wits  fully  about  him,  and  had 
been  closely  watching  the  motions  of  the  Indians  over 
his  shoulder,  for  just  at  this  crisis  he  snatched  his 
"umbrell"  from  behind  his  saddle,  and  suddenly 
wheeling  old  Paint,  he  flopped  it  open  right  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Indians'  horses. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 59 

The  effect  of  this  masterly  movement  was  Instan- 
taneous and  magical.  The  Indians'  horses  stopped 
for  a  second  as  suddenly  as  if  they  had  been  turned  to 
stone,  and  gazed  with  terror  and  astonishment  upon 
the  strange-looking  object  presented  toward  them; 
then  wheeling  as  quack  as  lightning,  in  spite  of  all  the 
efforts  of  their  riders,  they  dashed  off  like  mad  in  the 
direction  they  had  come.  In  a  few  minutes  the  little 
author  trotted  up  to  where  we  were,  looking  as  pleas- 
ing as  a  basket  of  chips,  and  smiling  as  complacently 
as  if  he  thought  it  no  ways  strange  at  all  that  he 
should  have  routed  a  half  dozen  warriors  with  no 
other  weapon  than  his  much-abused  "umbrell." 

The  men  were  so  much  ''tickled"  with  his  reckless- 
ness and  daring  (for  by  this  time  a  crowd  had  gath- 
ered around  us,  who  had  witnessed  the  whole  pro- 
ceeding) that  they  welcomed  him  as  he  rode  up  with  a 
shout  that  might  have  been  heard  for  a  mile. 

"Darn  my  hind  sights,"  said  Bill  Sykes,  an  old  fron- 
tiersman and  Indian-fighter,  "ef  this  ain't  the  first  time 
I  ever  knowed  or  hearn  tell  of  a  gang  of  Ingins  bein' 
whipped  with  nothing  but  an  'umbrelL'  I  never  seed 
horses  so  badly  'stampeded'  before  in  my  life !  They'd 
just  as  soon  run  over  a  bluff  forty  feet  high  as — up  a 
tree,  any  way  to  git  out  of  reach  of  that  'umbrelL'  Ef 
the  fellow  would  only  put  it  up  at  auction,  I'd  bid  high 
I  on  it  myself,  I  would ;  I'd  rather  have  it  than  a  pair  of 
Derringers,  any  day." 

"And  who'd  have  thought  it?"  said  another;  "the 
little  cuss  has  got  sand  in  his  craw  certain,  and  back- 
bone enough  for  a  feller  three  times  his  length.  If 
Big-Foot  gits  'upped'  [killed]  on  this  scout,  or  re- 
signs, I'll  vote  for  him  to  be  captain  of  this  squad. 


1 60  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

sure — don't  care  if  he  does  fill  his  saddle-wallets  with 
rocks,  and  totes  a  'pepper-box'  for  a  repeater.  He's 
true  blue  and  no  mistake." 

"Well,  Mr.  Author,"  said  I,  as  he  rode  up,  ''you 
have  had  a  closer  shave  for  your  life  this  time  than 
you  did  when  the  buck  was  after  you.  I  began  to  think 
sure  enough  that  you  would  never  live  to  finish  your 
great  novel  of  the  'Wayworn  Wanderer'." 

"Yes,"  he  answered,  "I  was  in  a  pretty  tight  place 
for  a  while,  and  I  began  to  think  myself  that  the  world 
would  never  see  the  revised  edition  of  the  'Wayworn 
Wanderer.'  The  fact  is  though,  captain,  this  'scrim- 
maging,' as  you  call  it,  with  the  Indians,  is  a  very  ex- 
citing business,  and  forgetting  the  old  saying  'that  dis- 
cretion is  the  better  part  of  valor,'  I  followed  a  party 
of  them  too  far,  and  before  I  was  aware  of  my  dan- 
ger, they  turned  upon  me ;  and  dropping  my  gun  and 
pistol,  which  were  both  empty,  I  had,  as  you  saw,  to 
depend  on  the  heels  of  'Paint'  to  take  me  out  of  the 
scrape.  But,  didn't  I  send  'em  to  the  right-about 
though,  when  I  unmasked  my  'battery'  on  them? 
They  went  back  a  good  deal  faster  than  they  had 
come!" 

"Yes,"  said  I,  "Mr.  Author,  you  have  saved  your 
scalp  pretty  cleverly  this  time ;  but  I  would  advise  you 
not  to  be  so  venturesome  in  the  future,  for  fear  your 
'umbreir  might  not  serve  you  as  well  on  another 


occasion." 


When  we  got  back  to  the  village,  we  found  the  men 
busily  engaged  in  collecting  the  "plunder"  the  Indians 
had  stowed  away  in  their  lodges,  and  piling  it  up  in  the 
centre  of  the  square,  previous  to  distribution,  and  the 
amount  of  it  was  truly  astonishing.   Kegs  of  powder, 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  l6l 

sacks  of  lead,  bales  of  blankets,  dry  goods,  brass  ket- 
tles, beads,  skins,  and  buffalo-robes,  cutlery  and  hard- 
ware of  various  sorts,  and  a  great  variety  of  camping 
and  hunting  equipments,  mostly  of  their  own  manu- 
facture. About  this  time  a  party  of  my  men  came  in 
from  following  the  retreating  Indians,  bringing  with 
them  one  hundred  and  seventy  head  of  horses  and 
mules,  which  they  had  found  penned  up  in  a  corral 
near  by,  and  among  them  were  most  of  those  that  had 
been  stolen  from  me. 

Whilst  the  men  were  engaged  in  dividing  out  the 
^'plunder"  among  themselves,  or  such  of  it  as  they 
could  carry  along  with  them,  the  little  author  and  I 
took  an  old  spade  we  picked  up  near  one  of  the  lodges, 
and  going  to  where  I  had  left  the  lifeless  form  of  the 
Indian  maiden,  we  dug  a  grave  at  the  foot  of  a  pecan- 
tree,  and  wrapping  her  up  in  a  clean  white  blanket,  we 
gave  her  as  decent  a  burial  as  we  could.  The  little 
author  seemed  very  sorry  when  I  told  him  how  she 
had  been  accidentally  killed  in  the  fight  by  her  own 
people,  but  said  he  would  make  her  all  the  amends  in 
his  power  for  the  melancholy  fate,  by  immortalizing 
her  under  the  name  of  "Pa-ha-tal-ca"  or  the  *'Soft 
Wind,"  in  his  great  novel  of  the  "Wayworn  Wan- 
derer." 

In  the  second  fight  with  the  Indians,  they  lost 
twenty-one  warriors,  making  altogether  forty-eight 
of  them  killed  and  left  upon  the  ground.  I  had  but 
two  men  killed  and  Rve  wounded.  The  Lipans  never 
recovered  from  the  fatal  blow  we  gave  them  on  this 
occasion.  From  having  been,  up  to  this  time,  a  for- 
midable tribe,  able  to  send  out  six  or  eight  hundred 
warriors  into  the  field,  they  rapidly  dwindled  away 


1 62  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

until  now  they  scarcely  number  a  hundred  souls,  men, 
women,  and  children,  all  told. 

Nothing  worthy  of  note  occurred  on  our  way  back 
home.  I  parted  with  our  little  author  at  San  Antonio, 
and  he  promised  me  faithfully  to  send  me  a  copy  of 
his  book  as  soon  as  it  was  published;  but  I  never  got 
it,  nor  do  I  know  to  this  day  whether  or  not  he  has 
ever  exposed,  as  he  threatened  to  do,  the  "humbug- 
eries"  of  Mr.  Cooper,  in  his  great  novel  of  the  "Way- 
worn Wanderer  of  the  Western  Wilds." 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Wallace  Surprises  a  Party  of  Indians  Who  Were  Making 
Themselves  "Comfortable"  Near  His  Ranch. 

INDIANS  are  sometimes  monstrous  impudent  and 
will  run  the  greatest  risks  without  anything  to  gain 
by  it.  Would  you  believe,  that  not  more  than  six 
months  ago  a  party  of  five  Tonkawa  warriors  came 
within  half  a  mile  of  my  ranch,  and  in  broad  daylight 
killed  one  of  my  fattest  "mavericks,"  pitched  their 
camp,  and  set  in  for  a  general  jollification? 

It  happened  that  morning  that  Tom  Jones,  Bill 
Decker,  Jeff  Bonds  and  myself  were  out  looking  after 
the  stock,  when  all  at  once  Jeff  remarked  that  he  smelt 
meat  roasting  on  the  coals.  I  then  turned  up  my  nose 
to  windward  and  smelt  it,  too,  as  plainly  as  I  ever 
whiffed  fried  middling  of  a  frosty  morning  with  the 
breeze  dead  ahead,  when  I've  been  coming  into  camp 
after  a  three-hours'  hunt  before  breakfast.  Talk 
about  your  "Hostetter's  Bitters,"  and  your  "patent 
tonics !"  the  best  tonic  I  know  of  is  a  three-hours'  hunt 
among  the  hills  on  a  frosty  morning.  It  gives  a  fellow 
an  appetite  that  nothing  less  than  a  "mule  and  a  ham- 
per of  greens"  can  satisfy. 

Well,  as  I  was  saying,  just  as  soon  as  I  smelt 
roasted  meat,  I  knew  there  were  Indians  about, 
although  the  last  place  I  should  have  looked,  if  I  had 
been  hunting  for  them,  would  have  been  the  vicinity 
of  my  ranch.  Still,  I  was  certain  they  were  there  some- 
where, for  wolves,  and  panthers,  and  catamounts,  and 
other  varmints,  you  see,  always  take  their  meat  raw ; 


164  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

SO  I  told  the  boys  to  keep  quiet  and  get  down  and 
fasten  their  horses.  We  then  recapped  our  guns  and 
revolvers,  and  cautiously  crept  along  through  the 
bushes  until  we  discovered  the  Indians,  not  more  than 
fifty  yards  from  us,  where  they  were  making  them- 
selves as  much  at  home  and  as  comfortable  around 
their  fire  as  if  they  were  in  the  mountains  about  the 
head  of  the  Guadalupe  River,  which  is  undoubtedly 
the  roughest  little  scope  of  country  to  be  found  in  the 
State  of  Texas. 

I  whispered  to  Jeff,  who  was  nearest  to  me : 

"Well,  don't  this  beat  you?  Did  you  ever  know 
such  impudence  before  in  your  life?  To  kill  one  of 
my  fattest  'mavericks'  and  barbecue  it  in  broad  day- 
light, within  half  a  mile  of  my  ranch !  Well,  if  I  don't 
let  'em  know  I  am  the  landlord  of  these  'diggins'  yet, 
and  bring  in  a  bill  for  the  entertainment  they  have 
had,  you  may  call  me  'short  stock,'  if  I  am  six  foot 
three  in  my  stockings !" 

All  this  time  the  Indians  never  suspected  we  were 
near  them.  There  was  one  big  fellow  among  them, 
who  must  have  been  six  feet  two  or  three  inches  high 
in  his  stockings  (though  of  course  he  never  had  on  a 
pair  in  his  life),  and  he  was  making  himself  very 
prominent  around  the  fire,  broiling  the  fat  steaks  of 
my  "maverick"  upon  the  coals,  and  turning  and  bast- 
ing the  joints  of  meat  on  the  spits,  all  the  while  laugh- 
ing and  talking  just  as  if  he  didn't  know  he  was  within 
a  mile  of  Big-Foot's  ranch. 

I  don't  think  I  ever  felt  less  like  giving  quarter  in 
my  life  but  once,  and  that  was  when  a  big  buck-nigger, 
with  a  nose  like  a  "dormant"  window,  and  a  pair  of 
lips  that  looked  like  he  had  been  sucking  a  bee-gum 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 65 

and  got  badly  stung  in  the  operation,  objected  to  my 
registering  as  a  voter.  He  was  one  of  the  Board  of 
Registrars  at  Castroville,  but  he  wasn't  in  a  condition 
to  object  to  any  one  else  registering  that  day,  and 
probably  the  next,  for  I  took  him  a  '*clue"  over  the 
head  that  would  have  stunned  a  beef,  but  he  never 
winked ;  and  changing  my  tactics,  I  gave  him  twelve 
inches  of  solid  shoe  leather  on  the  shins  that  brought 
him  to  his  milk  in  short  order.  The  "Buro"  fined  me 
fifty  dollars  and  costs,  but  the  amount  isn't  paid  yet, 
and  probably  won't  be  until  they  can  get  a  crowd  that 
is  good  at  trailing  and  fighting  Indians  to  pilot  the 
sheriff  to  my  ranch. 

But,  to  come  back  to  the  Indians  that  were  barbecu- 
ing my  maverick ;  I  determined  to  take  the  impudent 
chap  that  was  making  himself  so  ^'prominent"  around 
the  fire  into  my  especial  keeping,  and  I  whispered  Jeff 
to  draw  a  bead  on  the  one  sitting  down,  and  to  tell  Bill 
and  Tom  to  shoot  at  the  three  standing  up.  At  the 
word,  all  four  of  our  rifles  cracked  like  one  gun. 

Just  as  I  drew  the  trigger  on  him,  the  big  Indian 
was  lifting  a  "chunk"  of  my  maverick  from  the  fire. 
At  the  crack  of  the  rifle,  the  "chunk"  flew  up  in  the 
air,  and  the  big  Indian  pitched  headforemost  on  his 
face  right  among  the  hot  coals  and  ashes,  and  before 
we  left  there  was  a  stronger  smell  of  roast  meat  than 
ever;  but  it  wasn't  my  maverick. 

Jeff  also  killed  his  Indian  dead  in  his  tracks,  but 
only  one  of  those  that  Bill  and  Tom  fired  at  was 
wounded,  and  not  very  badly  at  that.  They  retreated 
into  the  thick  chaparral,  and  we  never  saw  them 
again.  However,  we  got  all  their  bows  and  arrows, 
and  one  first-rate  new  flint-and-steel  rifle,  to  say  noth- 


1 66  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

ing  of  the  maverick,  which  was  done  to  a  turn,  for,  to 
give  the  scamps  their  due,  they  do  understand  roast- 
ing meat  to  a  fraction. 

The  big  Indian  that  I  got  must  have  been  a  sort  of 
chief,  for  he  had  about  twenty  pounds  of  brass  rings 
on  his  arms,  and  a  *'cue"  that  reached  down  to  his 
heels,  that  "nipped  and  tucked"  in  the  hot  ashes  like 
a  burnt  boot.  The  other  Indians  took  the  little  hint  I 
gave  them,  and  have  never  camped  on  my  premises 
since. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

The  "Mier  Expedition." 


DURING  the  f; 
Ition,"  as  it  wa 
authorities  of 


fall  of  1842,  the  "Mier  Expedi- 
was  called,  was  set  on  foot  by  the 
Texas,  in  retaliation,  I  suppose, 
for  the  then  recent  invasion  of  the  Republic  by  Gen- 
eral WoU,  and  the  capture  of  the  city  of  San  Antonio. 
Of  course,  I  was  *'on  hand,"  as  usual,  and  volunteered 
my  services.  Young  men  are  always  ready  to  volun- 
teer on  "wild  goose"  expeditions,  and  I  was  no  excep- 
tion to  the  rule;  but  as  we  grow  older,  we  learn  a 
thing  or  two,  look  some  time  before  we  leap,  and  don't 
*'fly  off  the  handle"  quite  so  easily. 

The  place  of  rendezvous  was  the  city  of  San  An- 
tonio, and  the  volunteers  that  assembled  there  for  the 
expedition  were  placed  under  the  command  of  Briga- 
dier-General Somerville,  an  officer  of  good  standing 
and  considerable  reputation.  A  motley,  mixed-up 
crowd  we  were,  you  may  be  certain — broken-down 
politicians  from  the  "old  States,"  that  somehow  had 
got  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  fence,  and  been  left  out 
In  the  cold;  renegades  and  refugees  from  justice,  that 
had  "left  their  country  for  their  country's  good,"  and 
adventurers  of  all  sorts,  ready  for  anything  or  any 
enterprise  that  afforded  a  reasonable  prospect  of  ex- 
citement and  plunder.  Dare-devils  they  were  all,  and 
afraid  of  nothing  under  the  sun  (except  a  due-bill  or  a 
bailiff) ,  and  if  they  had  been  managed  with  skill  and 
judgment,  they  would  undoubtedly  have  accomplished 
all  that  was  expected  from  the  expedition;  but  dis- 


1 68  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

sension,  that  bane  of  raw  troops,  which  has  so 
often  brought  to  grief  expeditions  of  this  kind,  pre- 
vailed among  our  leaders,  and  in  a  short  time  after 
we  had  marched  on  and  taken  possession  of  Laredo, 
a  little  village  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Rio  Grande, 
the  greater  portion  of  our  men  became  dissatisfied 
with  the  way  in  which  matters  were  managed,  and 
returned  home. 

We  found  no  troops  in  Laredo,  and  no  attempt  was 
made  by  the  inhabitants  to  defend  it.  By  the  time  we 
reached  the  place  we  had  run  short  of  provisions,  and 
a  requisition  was  made  upon  the  citizens  for  a  supply, 
and  after  obtaining  a  small  quantity  in  this  way,  we 
marched  out  of  town,  and  encamped  for  the  night 
about  three  miles  below  it. 

On  our  way  to  camp,  a  man  named  De  Boyce  was 
accidentally  killed  by  the  discharge  of  a  gun  in  the 
hands  of  a  messmate. 

We  remained  at  this  camp  all  the  next  day,  and  the 
day  after  we  took  up  the  line  of  march  down  the  left 
bank  of  the  Rio  Grande,  keeping  well  to  the  eastward 
of  the  settlements  on  the  river,  so  as  to  conceal  our 
advance  as  much  as  possible  from  the  enemy's  scouts. 
We  continued  on  southwardly  for  several  days, 
through  thickets  of  mesquite  and  other  thorny  shrubs, 
with  which  this  country  is  covered,  and  then  turning 
due  west,  soon  struck  the  Rio  Grande,  about  ten  miles 
above  Guerrero.  Here  we  found  two  or  three  small 
boats,  and  at  once  proceeded  to  cross  our  whole  force, 
now  less  than  ^ve  hundred  men,  as  Colonel  Bennett, 
with  all  the  "drafted  men,"  had  left  us  previously, 
and  taken  the  "back  track"  toward  home.  The  boats 
were  quite  small,  and  but  few  men  could  go  in  them  at 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 69 

a  time,  and  the  day  was  pretty  well  gone  before  one- 
half  of  our  force  had  landed  on  the  opposite  side. 

About  this  time,  General  Green,  who  had  been  sent 
forward  with  a  small  force  to  reconnoitre  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Guerrero,  came  back,  closely  pursued  by  a  con- 
siderable body  of  Mexican  cavalry.  The  men  that 
had  landed  were  at  once  formed  in  line  of  battle  by 
Colonel  Cook,  and  awaited  the  anticipated  attack  of 
the  Mexicans;  but,  after  circling  round  us  and  watch- 
ing our  movements  from  a  respectful  distance,  they 
galloped  off,  and  we  saw  them  no  more  that  day. 

The  next  morning,  the  balance  of  our  men  were 
crossed  over  to  the  western  side  of  the  river,  and  we 
marched  at  once  upon  Guerrero.  When  within  half  a 
mile  or  so  of  the  town,  the  alcalde  came  out  to  meet 
us,  and  beggd  us  not  to  enter  the  place,  as  the  citizens 
had  been  informed  we  intended  to  burn  it  and  put 
them  all  to  the  sword.  His  request  was  complied 
with,  and  we  encamped  on  the  Salado,  a  small  stream 
about  a  mile  from  the  village. 

The  next  morning,  when  we  were  all  anticipating 
every  moment  the  order  to  advance  upon  the  town,  we 
were  astonished  by  receiving  an  order  from  our  com- 
mander to  ''prepare  to  retreat,  and  to  recross  the 
river  as  soon  as  possible."  We  supposed,  however, 
that  of  course  our  commander  had  received  some  in- 
formation of  the  movements  of  the  enemy  that  ren- 
dered this  sudden  retreat  necessary,  and  we  were  soon 
in  motion,  and  never  halted  until  we  were  all  safely 
landed  again  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande, 
where  we  encamped  for  the  night. 

Rumors  were  rife  among  the  men  as  to  the  causes 
of  this  retrograde  movement,  but  nothing  definite  in 


170  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

regard  to  it  seemed  to  be  known  to  any  one.  Some 
said  that  our  commander,  General  Somerville,  had  re- 
ceived orders  from  the  President  of  Texas  to  abandon 
the  expedition,  but  whether  this  was  so  or  not  I  never 
knew;  at  an  rate,  he  left  us  the  next  morning,  and 
took  back  home  with  him  a  considerable  number  of 
the  men.  I  had  good  reason  afterward  to  regret  that 
I  had  not  continued  my  retreat  with  this  crowd,  for 
verily  "discretion  is  the  better  part  of  valor." 

Those  of  us  that  remained  behind  (I  think,  about 
two  hundred  and  twenty-four,  all  told)  determined, 
as  far  as  possible,  to  accomplish  the  objects  of  the 
expedition,  and  Colonel  Fisher,  an  accomplished  and 
tried  officer,  was  selected  for  our  "commander-in- 
chief." 

The  morning  after  our  new  organization  we  re- 
crossed  the  Rio  Grande  again,  eight  miles  from  Mier, 
and  marched  at  once  upon  the  town,  which  we  took 
possession  of  without  any  opposition.  We  found  no 
troops  there.  The  inhabitants  were  quite  friendly 
apparently,  and  readily  furnished  us  with  such  sup- 
plies as  we  needed;  but  had  I  known  the  Mexican 
character  as  well  then  as  I  do  now,  I  should  have  sus- 
pected their  sincerity  precisely  in  proportion  to  the 
friendly  manner  in  which  they  welcomed  us.  When  I 
was  at  school,  I  learnt  a  Latin  phrase, 'Tmco  Danaos 
et  dona  ferentes"  (l  fear  the  Greeks  and  the  gifts  they 
bring).  And  beware  of  the  Mexicans,  when  they 
press  you  to  hot  coffee  and  "tortillas."  Put  fresh  caps 
on  your  revolver,  and  see  that  your  "shooting-irons" 
are  all  in  order,  for  you  will  probably  need  them  be- 
fore long.  They  are  a  great  deal  more  treacherous 
than  Indians.    If  you  can  manage  to  get  into  an  In- 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 7 1 

dian's  camp  before  he  kills  you,  and  can  surprise  him 
into  offering  you  any  little  hospitality,  even  a  drink  of 
water,  you  are  safe  from  him  and  his  clan  as  long  as 
you  are  with  them.  No  temptation  would  induce  him 
to  ''lift  your  hair.'" 

But  not  so  with  the  Mexican.  He  will  feed  you  on 
his  best,  ''senor"  you,  and  "muchas  gracias"  you,  and 
bow  to  you  like  a  French  dancing-master,  and  wind  it 
all  up  by  slipping  a  knife  under  your  left  shoulder- 
blade  !  And  that's  one  reason  I  hate  them  so.  I  have 
respect  for  a  bold  and  open  enemy,  but  I  despise  your 
sneaking  sort,  who  are  forever  hoisting  "white  flags" 
for  the  purpose  of  throwing  you  off  your  guard. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

Over  the  Rio  Grande  Again — A  Costly  Exchange — Reception 

by  the   Mexicans — Firing  an   "Escopeta" — Fighting  in 

Earnest — Captain  Cameron  and  the  Mexican  Soldier. 

WHEN  we  had  got  all  the  supplies  we 
needed  from  the  citizens  of  Mier,  we  re- 
crossed  the  river  once  more  and  pitched 
our  camp  about  four  miles  east  of  the  town.  No  plun- 
dering was  permitted  while  we  were  in  Mier,  and 
everything  we  took  from  the  inhabitants  was  duly 
paid  for  according  to  our  own  estimate  of  its  value, 
and  of  course  the  prices  were  quite  reasonable. 

The  ntxt  day  after  our  return  to  the  east  side  of  the 
river,  some  of  the  scouts  we  had  left  on  the  west  side 
to  watch  the  motions  of  the  enemy,  came  into  camp 
and  reported  that  a  large  body  of  Mexican  troops 
were  marching  into  Mier.  This  we  regarded  as  a 
banter  for  a  fight ;  so  we  struck  tents,  crossed  the  river 
once  more  and  for  the  last  time,  and  marched  on  the 
city,  which,  as  our  spies  had  truly  reported,  we  now 
found  strongly  garrisoned  by  a  considerable  Mexican 
force. 

Before  we  crossed  the  river,  a  certain  number  of 
our  men  were  detailed  to  remain  at  camp  as  a  guard 
for  our  horses  and  baggage,  and  it  was  my  luck  to  be 
chosen  one  of  them.  But  I  did  not  fancy  that  sort  of 
business,  and  resolved,  by  some  means  or  other,  to 
make  one  of  the  detachment  that  was  to  advance  on 
Mier.  As  it  happened,  one  of  my  messmates,  who  had 
as  little  inclination  for  the  front  as  I  had  for  guarding 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 73 

horses  in  the  rear,  proffered  to  exchange  places  with 
me,  to  which  I,  of  course,  readily  consented,  and  at 
the  time  we  were  both,  no  doubt,  well  satisfied  with 
the  arrangement;  but  it  wasn't  a  great  while  before  I 
rued  the  trade  I  had  made  with  him,  and  would  gladly 
have  swapped  back  again  and  given  considerable 
''boot." 

Between  3  and  4  o'clock  in  the  evening,  our  whole 
detachment  had  crossed  the  river,  and  we  at  once  took 
up  the  line  of  march  for  Mier.  We  saw  no  signs  of 
the  enemy,  except  a  few  mounted  scouts,  who  re- 
treated expeditiously  as  soon  as  we  came  in  sight, 
until  we  came  to  the  Alcantero,  a  little  stream  a  few 
hundred  yards  from  the  town. 

Here  we  made  all  necessary  preparations  and  ad- 
vanced to  the  attack;  but  in  place  of  hot  coffee  and 
tortillas,  as  in  the  former  instance,  we  were  received 
by  the  Mexicans  with  shouts  of  defiance,  and  heavy 
discharges  from  their  "escopetas." 

These  "escopetas"  are  a  short  bell-mouth,  bull- 
doggish  looking  musket,  carrying  a  very  heavy  ball, 
which  is  "death  by  the  law"  when  it  hits,  but  that  is 
seldom,  for  they  shoot  with  little  accuracy.  They  are 
good  for  nothing,  except  to  make  a  noise,  and  a  volley 
from  them  always  put  me  in  mind  of  the  old  saying 
about  shearing  hogs — "Great  cry  and  little  wool."  I 
never  fired  one  of  them  but  once,  and  that  was  at  the 
battle  of  the  Salado,  near  San  Antonio. 

During  the  fight,  I  came  across  a  dead  Mexican 
with  one  in  his  hands,  and  as  my  rifle  was  empty  at 
the  time,  I  hastily  caught  it  up,  placed  the  breech 
against  my  shoulder,  as  I  was  in  the  habit  of  doing 
with  my  own  gun,  and  fired  at  a  party  of  the  enemy 


174  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

who  were  retreating  from  the  field.  My  first  impres- 
sion was  that  I  had  been  struck  with  a  nine-pound 
cannon-ball.  It  kicked  me  heels  over  head,  and  I  sup- 
pose kept  on  kicking  me  after  I  was  down,  for  when 
I  "came  to"  I  found  that  my  nose  was  unjointed  and 
two  of  my  ribs  stove  in.  I  have  since  found  that  the 
Mexicans  never  place  them  to  the  shoulder,  but  hold 
them  with  both  hands  above  their  heads  and  fire  at 
random,  which  accounts  in  a  great  measure  for  the 
little  execution  done  by  them. 

But  to  come  back  to  my  story.  The  Mexicans  re- 
ceived us,  as  I  said,  with  heavy  discharges  from  these 
escopetas,  and  after  some  sharp  skirmishing  we  got 
possession  of  a  portion  of  the  town,  and  the  fighting 
began  in  earnest. 

Among  us  there  were  some  of  the  best  marksmen 
in  the  world,  backwoodsmen  from  Kentucky,  Tennes- 
see, and  Arkansas,  and  every  "greaser"  that  ventured 
to  peep  at  us  above  the  parapets  of  the  houses,  and 
round  the  corners  of  the  streets,  was  sure  to  get  a 
bullet  through  his  head. 

In  the  meantime,  with  crowbars  and  picks,  some  of 
us  were  busily  engaged  in  breaking  through  the  stone 
walls  of  the  buildings,  and  in  this  way  we  were  rapidly 
advancing  toward  the  "square,"  in  the  centre  of  the 
town.  Night,  however,  came  on  and  put  an  end,  for 
the  time,  to  the  contest. 

So  far,  we  had  lost  but  one  man  killed  (Major 
Jones,  former  Postmaster-General  of  the  Republic). 
The  Mexican  loss  must  have  been  considerable,  but 
we  had  no  means  of  ascertaining  the  extent  of  it. 

Just  as  the  fight  ended,  two  or  three  of  us  had 
picked  our  way  into  a  room,  where  we  found  a  table 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  I75 

well  covered  with  various  sorts  of  eatables — '^ chili  con 
carne/^  ^'tortillas/'  etc.,  several  bottles  of  ^^pulque,'* 
and  a  box  full  of  Rne  ^'puros/'  or  Spanish  cigars.  At 
first,  we  were  a  little  suspicious  of  these  things,  think- 
ing the  Mexicans  might  have  left  them  on  purpose, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  ^' gringos,'^  and  we  touched  them 
sparingly.  But  hunger  at  length  got  the  better  of  our 
suspicions,  for  we  had  not  eaten  a  bite  all  day,  and  we 
pitched  into  them,  regardless  of  consequences,  and 
made  a  jolly  night  of  it. 

At  daylight  the  next  morning  the  Mexicans  began 
to  blow  their  bugles  and  beat  their  drums,  and  to 
make  a  great  to  do  generally;  but  Tom  Hancock,  a 
messmate  of  mine,  who  had  been  among  the  Mexicans 
a  long  time,  and  knew  their  character  well,  told  us  not 
to  be  alarmed,  as  they  were  merely  playing  a  "game 
of  bluff,"  and  that  he  had  always  noticed  that  the 
more  noise  they  made  the  less  stomach  they  had  for 
fighting.  But  it  seems  that  the  garrison  had  been 
greatly  reinforced  during  the  night,  and,  confident  in 
their  numbers,  they  charged  us  in  the  position  we 
occupied  with  more  spirit  than  we  had  given  them 
credit  for.  The  fire  from  our  rifles,  however,  was  so 
rapid  and  deadly  that  they  at  length  fell  back  in  con- 
fusion, leaving  the  streets  and  plaza  strewed  with 
their  dead  and  wounded. 

For  some  time  after  this  repulse  they  contented 
themselves  with  firing  upon  us  at  "long  taw,"  from 
their  port-holes  and  the  flat  roofs  of  their  houses,  but 
gradually  growing  bolder,  as  reinforcements  came  in, 
they  charged  us  again  and  again  with  great  impetu- 
osity and  courage,  but  each  time  with  the  same  result. 
The  last  time,  they  pressed  us  so  closely  that  our  men, 


176  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

In  many  instances,  after  discharging  their  guns,  fought 
them  with  rocks,  which  they  tore  up  from  the  streets, 
and  from  the  walls  of  the  surrounding  buildings. 

Captain  Cameron,  a  man  of  extraordinary  strength, 
having  just  discharged  his  rifle,  was  observed  by  sev- 
eral of  us  to  seize  a  rock  and  dash  out  the  brains  of  a 
Mexican  soldier  who  was  in  the  act  of  charging  upon 
him  with  his  bayonet. 

Some  of  the  Mexican  soldiers  told  us  subsequently 
that  they  were  all  drunk,  having  been  furnished  by 
their  officers  with  as  much  "pulque"  as  they  could 
drink,  in  order  to  stimulate  their  courage,  which  will 
account  for  their  unusual  intrepidity  and  daring. 

I  had  a  very  narrow  escape  myself  in  this  fight. 
After  one  of  their  charges  upon  us,  in  the  excitement 
of  the  moment,  I  followed  too  far  a  party  of  retreat- 
ing soldiers,  when  they  suddenly  turned  upon  me,  and 
before  I  was  aware  of  my  danger,  I  was  surrounded, 
and  escape  was  apparently  impossible.  I  was  deter- 
mined, however,  to  retreat  at  all  hazards,  and  turned 
and  dashed  through  their  line.  One  fellow,  as  I 
passed,  made  a  lunge  at  me  with  his  bayonet,  slightly 
wounding  me  in  the  left  arm;  but  I  made  good  my 
escape  and  rejoined  my  comrades,  who  had  given  me 
up  for  lost. 

The  adventure  had  the  effect  of  cooling  my  courage 
considerably,  and  during  the  rest  of  the  fight  I  kept 
within  supporting  distance  of  my  comrades. 

The  battle  continued  with  great  obstinacy  on  both 
sides,  until  perhaps  one  or  two  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
when  a  temporary  cessation  took  place  of  an  hour  or 
so,  apparently  by  the  tacit  consent  of  both  parties. 
And  then  affairs  took  a  turn  I  have  never  been  able  to 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  177 

account  for  satisfactorily  to  this  day.  Everything 
seemed  to  promise  us  a  complete  victory,  for  we  had 
evidently  been  getting  the  best  of  the  fight  all  day 
long,  when  the  Mexicans  hoisted  a  "white  flag,"  and 
sent  it  into  our  lines  by  a  Dr.  Sennickson,  one  of  our 
men  that  had  been  previously  captured  by  them.  Sen- 
nickson was  accompanied  by  two  Mexican  officers, 
Algereto  and  Carasco.  They  bore  a  message  from 
General  Ampudia,  requesting  an  entire  cessation  of 
hostilities  for  an  hour  longer. 

This  request  was  readily  acceded  to  by  our  com- 
mander, for  no  doubt  he  was  fully  under  the  impres- 
sion that  the  Mexicans  intended  surrendering  the 
town  to  us.  You  can  form  some  idea  of  our  astonish- 
ment, then,  when  in  a  little  while  another  officer  came 
into  our  lines,  with  a  message  from  General  Ampudia 
to  the  effect  "that  it  was  a  useless  waste  of  life  for  us 
to  contend  longer  against  his  greatly  superior  force ; 
that  he  had  received  large  reinforcements,  and  had  us 
completely  in  his  power ;  and  if  we  would  surrender  at 
discretion,  he  pledged  us  his  word  we  should  be 
treated  with  liberality  and  clemency,  but  that  if  any 
further  resistance  was  made,  every  one  of  us  should 
be  put  to  the  sword  without  mercy." 

I  had  but  little  knowledge  at  that  time  of  the  Mexi- 
can character,  but  I  have  since  learned  whenever  they 
hoisted  the  white  flag  and  succeeded  in  persuading  the 
Americans  into  a  "parley,"  they  invariably  got  the 
better  of  them  in  some  way  or  other.  It  was  so  at  the 
storming  of  Monterey,  during  the  Mexican  war. 
There,  after  three  days'  hard  fighting,  and  just  when 
we  got  the  whole  Mexican  army  completely  in  our 
power,  they  hoisted  that  same  white  flag,  and  "bam- 


178  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

boozled"  General  Taylor  into  a  "parley,"  and  then 
into  an  "armistice"  of  thirty  days,  and  finally  into  a 
"capitulation,"  which  enabled  them  to  march  out  with 
the  "honors  of  war,"  and  with  all  their  arms  and 
equipments;  and  he  had  to  fight  them  over  again  at 
Buena  Vista  under  the  most  disadvantageous  circum- 
stances. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Surrender   to  the   Mexicans — General   Green's    Proposition — 

Marched  Off  to  Prison — The  Mexican  Maiden — Off  for 

Camargo — A  Short  Stay  and  Off  Again — Reinosa. 

A  LONG  "talk"  followed  between  our  officers 
/^^  and  the  messengers  of  General  Ampudia, 
Jl-  )\  going  and  coming.  Some  of  our  officers  were 
in  favor  of  fighting  to  the  last,  but  the  "white  flag" 
had  produced  its  usual  effect  upon  the  majority,  who 
were  in  favor  of  surrendering,  providing  General 
Ampudia  would  grant  us  such  terms  as  they  thought 
honorable  and  reasonable.  These  terms  were  at 
length  decided  upon,  written  out  on  paper,  and  for- 
warded to  General  Ampudia.  After  some  further 
parleying.  General  Ampudia  finally  consented  to 
ratify  the  capitulation  upon  the  terms  demanded. 

It  was  at  this  stage  of  the  proceedings  that  General 
Green  stepped  out  of  the  ranks,  and  called  for  a  hun- 
dred volunteers  to  go  with  him  and  cut  their  way 
through  the  Mexicans.  But  the  attempt  seemed  such 
a  hopeless  on6,  that  no  one  responded  to  his  call,  and, 
mortified,  the  gallant  soldier  dashed  his  rifle  to  pieces 
against  the  ground,  and  resigned  himself  to  his  fate. 
We  delivered  up  all  our  arms  to  the  Mexicans,  who 
marched  us  off  in  double  file  to  our  quarters  in  some 
deserted  stone  buildings.  Never  shall  I  forget  the 
humiliation  of  my  feelings,  when  we  were  stripped  of 
all  our  arms  and  equipments,  and  led  off  ignomini- 
ously  by  a  numerous  guard  of  swarthy,  bandy-legged, 
contemptible  "greasers."  There  we  were,  two  hundred 


I  80  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

good  men  and  true  as  ever  shouldered  a  musket  (for 
we  had  lost  only  about  thirty  men  killed  and  wounded 
in  the  fight),  for  no  earthly  reason  that  I  could  see, 
bound  hand  and  foot,  and  delivered  over  to  the  ten- 
der mercies  of  these  pumpkin-colored  Philistines,  and 
all  through  the  workings  of  that  miserable  little 
"white  flag."  I  could  have  cried  with  a  right  good  will 
if  I  hadn't  been  so  mad. 

The  force  opposed  to  us  in  Mier,  at  the  time  of  our 
surrender,  as  stated  by  the  Mexicans  themselves, 
amounted  to  something  over  three  thousand  men.  Of 
these,  upwards  of  five  hundred,  according  to  their 
own  estimate,  were  killed  in  the  fight.  How  many 
were  wounded  we  never  knew.  In  no  other  battle  with 
the  Americans,  before  or  since,  have  the  Mexicans 
ever  displayed  as  much  intrepidity  and  daring,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  myself,  that,  as  some  of  them  told  us, 
the  greater  portion  of  their  soldiers  were  drunk  on 
"pulque,"  with  which  they  were  liberally  supplied  by 
their  officers  during  the  fight. 

The  guard  we  had  left  on  the  east  side  of  the  river, 
in  charge  of  our  horses  and  camp  equipage,  it  seems 
got  information  of  our  surrender,  by  some  means,  in 
time  to  effect  their  escape.  They  made  their  way 
safely  back  to  Texas. 

As  I  have  before  stated,  as  soon  as  we  had  surren- 
dered, they  fastened  us  up  in  some  deserted  stone 
buildings,  like  so  many  pigs,  where  we  were  kept  for 
five  or  six  days  with  nothing  to  eat  except  a  little  dried 
beef,  which  was  so  tough  I  gave  one-half  of  my 
rations  to  a  messmate,  who  had  a  remarkably  strong 
set  of  teeth,  to  chew  the  other  half  for  me;  and,  to 
wash  this  down,  we  were  furnished  with  a  limited  sup- 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  I  8  I 

ply  of  muddy  water  from  the  Rio  Grande.  However, 
there  was  no  use  to  complain;  we  knew  we  were  "in 
for  it,"  and  principally  through  our  own  stupidity  and 
folly,  and  we  resolved  to  make  the  best  of  the  worst 
situation  in  which  we  might  be  placed.  As  for  myself, 
I  was  somewhat  better  prepared  for  this  course  of 
dieting  than  most  of  the  men,  having  had,  as  I  have 
already  mentioned,  a  good  meal  the  night  before  we 
surrendered. 

Besides,  on  the  morning  of  the  second  day  after  we 
were  imprisoned,  while  I  was  sitting  in  front  of  a  small 
grated  window,  looking  out  ruefully  and  hungrily 
upon  the  passers-by,  a  little  Mexican  maiden — bless 
her  little  tawny  hide — came  tripping  alone,  and  sus- 
pecting, from  my  woe-begone  visage,  the  empty  con- 
dition of  my  stomach,  made  signs  to  me  to  know  if  I 
didn't  want  something  to  eat.  I  could  not  speak  a 
word  of  Spanish  at  that  time,  but  I  easily  made  her 
understand  that  she  had  guessed  how  matters  were 
with  me  precisely,  and  she  forthwith  tripped  off,  and 
soon  returned  with  a  batch  of  the  inevitable  tortillas, 
some  red  peppers,  and  a  considerable  chunk  of  roast 
kid-meat,  which  she  handed  to  me  through  the  little 
window. 

I  made  her  a  low  bow,  pulled  my  forelock,  and 
smiled  as  sweetly  and  as  amiably  as  I  could  with  my 
powder-burnt  and  dirt-begrimed  countenance.  She 
went  off  laughing  at  my  grimaces,  and  turning  a  cor- 
ner, I  lost  sight  of  my  little  pumpkin-colored  angel 
forever. 

The  tortillas  were  cold  and  tougher  than  army 
*'flap-jacks,"  and  the  red  pepper  was  as  hot  as  mes- 
quite  coals ;  but  I  was  as  sharp-set  as  a  new  saw,  and 


I  8  2  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

of  course  not  inclined  to  ''look  a  gift  horse  in  the 
mouth."  I  felt  just  as  grateful  to  the  little  saffron- 
colored  maiden  as  if  she  had  feasted  me  on  roast  tur-^ 
key  and  plum  pudding,  and  I  hope  her  lot  has  been  a 
happy  one — tortillas,  Chili  pepper,  and  black-eyed 
papooses  in  abundance. 

For  five  or  six  days  we  were  kept  closely  guarded 
and  watched  in  these  miserable  quarters,  until  the 
morning  of  the  28th  of  December,  when  a  pompous 
little  Mexican  official  came  into  our  prison  and  told 
us  to  get  ready  immediately  for  a  march,  as  we  were 
to  start  at  10  o'clock  that  day  for  Camargo. 

But  this  intimation  was  hardly  necessary,  for  we 
were  prepared  to  start  at  a  moment's  warning,  as 
everything  we  had  in  the  world  was  upon  our  backs. 
The  extra  wardrobe  of  our  whole  force  could  easily 
have  been  packed  in  a  lady's  bonnet-box. 

At  the  hour  designated  by  the  little  official,  our 
Mexican  guard  made  its  appearance.  It  was  com- 
manded by  General  Ampudia  in  person,  and  consisted 
of  about  six  hundred  infantry  and  a  considerable  body 
of  cavalry,  and  a  small  company  of  artillery,  with  two 
six-pound  field-pieces.  Certainly  a  most  ample  guard 
for  two  hundred  half-starved,  unarmed  prisoners. 
After  a  fatiguing  march  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles, 
we  reached  the  town  of  Camargo,  and  encamped  in 
the  vicinity,  in  commodious  and  well-ventilated  quar- 
ters, at  a  corral  or  cattle-pen. 

Camargo  differs  in  nothing  from  every  other  Mexi- 
can town  I  have  seen — the  inevitable  square  in  the 
centre,  enclosed  by  lines  of  low,  flat-roofed  houses,' 
with  wretched  "jacals"  [pronounced  "hakals"],  built 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 83 

of  Sticks  and  mud,  scattered  promiscuously  about  the 
suburbs. 

Nothing  that  I  remember  now  worthy  of  note  oc- 
curred on  our  route  to  this  place.  Sometimes  we  were 
very  roughly  treated  by  the  guard.  Whenever  a  poor 
fellow  lagged  behind  the  column  for  an  instant,  they 
seemed  to  take  an  especial  pleasure  in  accelerating  his 
speed  by  the  vigorous  application  of  a  bayonet.  A 
bayonet  is  undoubtedly  a  powerful  persuader.  I  have 
seen  men  when  broken  down  and  "beat  out"  by  a  hard 
day's  march,  wake  up  to  new  life  and  energy  on  the 
receipt  of  some  welcome  news,  and,  under  like  circum- 
stances, I  have  seen  renewed  vigor  instilled  into  them 
by  the  spirited  strains  of  a  fine  band  of  music;  but 
nothing  is  so  effective  in  this  way  as  one  or  two  inches 
of  cold  steel  in  the  body.  I  know  this  is  so,  for  I  speak 
from  sad  and  personal  experience  of  the  fact. 

In  the  morning,  after  our  guard  had  paraded  us 
several  times  around  the  public  square,  to  give  the 
good  people  of  Camargo  a  chance  to  look  at  the  "wild 
Texans,"  we  bid  them  farewell,  and  again  took  the 
road  down  the  river.  Occasionally  we  were  halted 
to  rest  for  an  hour  or  so  at  the  "haciendas"  and 
"ranchos"  on  the  way. 

In  some  places  the  inhabitants,  and  especially  the 
women,  seemed  to  compassionate  the  miserable  con- 
dition of  the  "Gringos,"  as  they  called  us,  and  gave 
us  water  to  drink,  and  sometimes  more  substantial 
refreshments.  In  others,  we  were  hooted  at  by  the 
mob,  that  was  sure  to  collect  around  us  whenever  we 
stopped  for  a  few  moments,  who  would  call  us  by  all 
sorts  of  hard  names,  and  pelt  us  with  stones  and  clods 
of  earth,  and  stale  eggs. 


I  84  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

Foot-sore  and  weary,  we  at  length  reached  Reinosa, 
a  town  about  fifty  miles  below  Camargo.  Here  we 
were  received  with  discharges  of  musketry,  and  a  gen- 
eral ringing  of  cracked  bells,  and  as  we  were  marched 
"triumphantly"  into  the  public  square,  where  banners 
of  all  kinds  were  flaunting  in  the  air,  the  flat  roofs  of 
the  houses  and  the  porches  and  the  balconies  were 
thronged  with  women  and  children,  anxious  to  get  a 
peep  at  the  "terrible  Gringos."  It  made  us  feel  quite 
proud,  to  think  that  we  were  the  cause  of  all  this  noise 
and  bustle. 

When  they  had  paraded  us  around  the  square  often 
enough  to  satisfy  the  curiosity  of  the  good  people  of 
Reinosa,  we  were  marched  off  to  our  quarters,  in  some 
old  buildings  just  outside  of  the  town. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Ofif  for  Matamoros — Distinguished  Reception  at  Matamoros — 

An  Oratorical  Display — Again  on  the  Road — A  Serious 

Loss — Goat  or  Dog? 


W' 


E  remained  at  Relnosa  a  day  or  two,  and 
then  took  the  road  again  for  Matamoros. 
We  never  halted  except  at  night,  when  we 
were  ^'corralled,"  like  so  many  cattle,  on  the  bleak 
prairies,  without  any  shelter,  and  scarcely  food 
enough  to  keep  body  and  soul  together,  until  we 
reached  the  "Heroic  City." 

Is  it  any  wonder,  with  the  recollection  of  such  treat- 
ment still  fresh  in  their  memory,  that  in  the  war  which 
subsequently  took  place  between  Mexico  and  the 
United  States,  the  Texans  should  have  sent  many  a 
"greaser"  "up  the  spout,"  without  the  formality  of  a 
court-martial  to  decide  upon  his  guilt  or  innocence? 
However,  I  can  say  for  myself  that  I  never  killed  one 
in  cold  blood.  I  always  turned  them  loose  first  and 
gave  them  a  chance  for  their  life;  nevertheless,  very 
few  of  them  ever  were  heard  of  again,  as  in  those  days 
I  was  hard  to  beat  in  a  "foot-race." 

As  we  approached  the  city  of  Matamoros,  a  great 
crowd  of  men,  women,  and  children  came  out  to  meet 
us,  who  were  so  anxious  to  get  a  look  at  the  "wild 
Texans,"  that  they  couldn't  await  our  arrival.  Some 
were  in  vehicles  of  various  kinds,  some  mounted  on 
mustang  ponies,  and  not  a  few  upon  the  backs  of  the 
little  "burros,"  or  jacks,  that  were  hardly  as  tall  as  a 
good-sized  Newfoundland  dog.  Escorted  in  this  way. 


I  86  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

we  entered  the  city  of  Matamoros,  as  at  Relnosa, 
amid  the  firing  of  muskets,  the  waving  of  flags,  and 
the  clanging  of  bells,  and  after  parading  us,  as  usual, 
several  times  around  the  public  square,  we  were 
marched  off  to  our  quarters  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city. 

Our  men  were  so  worn  down  by  fatigue  and  "short 
commons"  that  it  was  found  absolutely  necessary  to 
remain  in  the  city  for  a  few  days,  to  give  them  a 
chance  to  recruit.  But  our  stay  there  could  hardly 
have  been  considered  an  entire  respite  from  the  hard- 
ships and  discomforts  of  the  road,  for  at  that  time 
the  lower  classes  of  the  citizens  of  the  "heroic  city" 
were  exceedingly  bigoted  and  intolerant  toward  all 
"heretics,"  and  especially  {he  Texans,  and,  conse- 
quently, whenever  an  opportunity  offered,  they  never 
failed  to  render  our  situation  as  disagreeable  as  pos- 
sible. Some  among  the  better  class  of  inhabitants, 
however,  were  very  kind  to  us,  as  were  many  of  the 
foreign  residents,  and  furnished  us  with  occasional 
supplies  of  food  and  clothing;  indeed,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  these  charitable  individuals,  we  might  have 
suffered  considerably  during  our  stay  in  the  city,  as 
the  rations  furnished  us  by  the  "commissariat"  were 
remarkable  neither  for  quantity  nor  quality. 

One  morning,  a  little  bow-legged  chap,  dressed  in 
uniform,  and  covered  with  stars  and  spangles,  came 
into  our  quarters,  and  made  us  a  regular  set  speech, 
which  was  interpreted  to  us  by  an  attendant.  What 
was  his  purpose  I  could  never  understand,  unless,  like 
some  of  our  politicians,  he  was  resolved  to  neglect  no 
opportunity  of  bringing  himself  prominently  before 
the  public.  He  told  us,  among  other  things,  what  a 
great  and  magnanimous  people  the  Mexicans  were; 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 87 

that  but  for  this  fact,  we  would  all  have  been  taken 
out  and  executed  as  soon  as  captured,  etc. ;  and  he 
finally  wound  up  by  saying  that  if  the  United  States 
did  not  cease  giving  "aid  and  comfort"  to  the  rebels 
of  Texas,  this  great  and  magnanimous  nation  would 
collect  an  irresistible  army,  that  would  march  from 
one  victory  to  another,  until  the  Mexican  flag  would 
float  proudly  from  the  dome  of  the  Capitol  at  Wash- 
ington City! 

Here  some  fellow  in  the  crowd  sang  out,  "Oh, 
spare  the  women  and  children!"  and  another,  "You 
had  better  whip  Texas  first,  before  you  tackle  Uncle 
Sam !"  But  the  little  hero  paid  no  attention  to  them. 
He  continued  In  the  same  strain  for  some  time,  and 
then  with  a  "grand  flourish"  turned  on  his  heel,  and 
stalked  away  majestically,  his  spurs  clanking  and  his 
little  sword  trailing  on  the  pavement  behind  him. 

I  wonder  what  he  thought  of  the  "magnanimous 
nation"  when,  a  few  years  afterward.  General  Scott 
planted  the  Stars  and  Stripes  on  the  "Halls  of  the 
Montezumas,"  with  only  ten  thousand  raw  troops  to 
back  him ! 

Before  we  left  Matamoros,  a  rumor  reached  the 
city  In  some  way  that  General  Rusk,  with  a  consider- 
able force  of  Texans,  was  on  his  way  to  attack  it.  In 
consequence  of  this  report.  General  Ampudia  and  the 
detachment  of  troops  that  had  guarded  us  from  Mier 
were  ordered  away,  and  another  guard  of  raw  recults, 
under  General  Canales,  was  substituted  for  it.  This 
substitution  of  new  levies  for  the  regular  soldiers,  of 
which  our  previous  escort  was  composed,  emboldened 
us  afterward  to  concert  a  plan  to  surprise  them,  and  to 
make  our  escape  Into  Texas. 


I  8  8  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

The  officer  in  command  of  our  guard  (General 
Canales)  was  well  known  to  many  of  us  by  reputation 
as  a  cruel,  cowardly  tyrant,  and  we  knew  very  well  we 
had  no  favors  to  expect  from  him,  or  from  the  ignor- 
ant, undisciplined  recruits  of  which  his  force  was  com- 
posed. We  were  detained  at  Matamoros  for  six  days, 
and  on  the  morning  of  the  seventh  took  up  the  line  of 
march  again  for  Monterey.  With  all  its  hardships 
and  discomforts,  I  much  preferred  being  on  the  road 
to  confinement  in  the  filthy  prisons  and  quarters  of  the 
towns  and  villages  through  which  we  passed.  While 
marching,  I  could,  at  any  rate,  breathe  the  pure,  fresh 
air  of  heaven  without  being  hooted  at  and  reviled  by 
the  mob  or  rabble  that  always  collected  around  us 
whenever  we  were  halted  on  the  way. 

On  the  first  day's  march  I  met  with  a  serious  mis- 
fortune in  the  loss  of  my  ^'fine-tooth  comb,"  which  I 
had  safely  kept  until  then,  in  spite  of  our  thievish 
Mexican  guard,  and  which  was  my  only  "ark  of 
safety"  against  the  swarms  of  vermin  with  which  they 
were  infested.  I  have  since  lost  articles  of  a  thousand 
times  more  intrinsic  value  than  that  little  horn  comb, 
but  never  anything  the  want  of  which  I  felt  so  sensi- 
bly. The  want  of  many  things  may  be  supplied  by 
tolerable  substitutes,  but  nothing  will  answer  in  place 
of  a  "ridding  comb,"  under  such  circumstances. 

Neither  is  there  any  substitute  for  tobacco.  I  have 
tried  all  sorts  of  leaves,  herbs,  and  roots,  and  have 
never  yet  found  anything  that  would  take  its  place. 
Ever  since  we  were  captured  we  had  suffered  as  much 
for  the  want  of  tobacco  as  for  lack  of  sufficient  and 
healthy  food.  The  miserable  little  "cigaritos,"  with 
which  we  were  occasionally  supplied  by  the  Mexicans 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 89 

(each  containing  about  a  good  ''pinch"  for  a  snuff- 
taker)  ,  only  served  to  tantalize  us.  No  one  except  an 
habitual  consumer  of  the  weed  can  appreciate  or 
understand  the  soothing  effects,  after  a  hard  day's 
march,  of  a  pipe  full  of  the  genuine  Virgina  "cut  and 
dried."  It  will  even  mitigate,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
one's  grief  for  the  recent  loss  of  dear  friends.  But 
these  wretched  little  cigaritos  always  reminded  me  of 
the  old  saying  of  "feeding  a  hungry  man  on  soup  with 
a  fork."  I  never  got  a  chance  at  a  good  old  solid  plug 
again  until  after  we  were  liberated  and  landed  at  New 
Orleans,  on  our  way  home. 

We  encamped,  the  first  night  out  from  Matamoros, 
near  a  forlorn-looking  little  Mexican  "ranch,"  where 
nothing  was  to  be  had  to  eat  except  a  few  scraggy 
goats,  and  naked,  sore-eyed  dogs.  Even  the  inevit- 
able tortillas  could  not  be  had  for  love  or  money. 
Some  of  the  boys  pressed  one  of  the  little  naked  dogs 
into  service  for  supper,  but  according  to  their  report 
(for  I  did  not  taste  it  myself),  it  must  have  been  a 
poor  substitute  for  roast  pig.  They  said  it  was  exceed- 
ingly tough,  and  when  cooked,  that  "it  smelt  worse 
than  a  wet  dog."  The  mess,  however,  to  which  I  be- 
longed was  fortunate  enough  to  kidn^Lp  one  of  the 
goats,  which  furnished  us  with  a  tolerable  meal.  If 
that  goat  has  ever  been  paid  for  yet,  I  am  not  aware 
of  the  fact.  The  inhabitants  of  this  "ranch"  were 
certainly  the  most  wretched-looking  specimens  of  hu- 
manity that  I  had  ever  seen,  except  perhaps  the  Dig- 
ger Indians  of  California.  Men,  women,  and  children 
were  squalid  and  filthy  beyond  description,  and  one 
would  have  supposed  that  the  very  height  of  their 
ambition,  in  a  worldly  point  of  view,  was  to  make 


190  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

shuck  clgaritos  and  smoke  them,  and  loll  all  day  upon 
a  beef-hide,  eating  dried  meat  and  red  pepper.  But 
this  will  apply  equally  as  well  to  all  the  lower  classes 
of  the  Mexican  people  as  to  the  inmates  of  this  ranch. 
If  you  wish  to  bring  a  Mexican  to  the  lowest  depths 
of  despair,  cut  him  off  from  cigaritos,  red  pepper,  and 
tortillas.  He  might  sustain  existence  for  a  little  while 
under  such  distressing  circumstances  by  the  stimulus 
of  gambling,  but  even  that  would  afford  him  but  a 
temporary  respite. 

If  I  were  fishing  for  men,  and  wanted  to  catch  an 
Englishman,  I  would  bait  my  hook  with  the  "Times," 
and  a  bottle  of  "Brown  Stout;"  if  for  an  Irishman,  I 
should  use  a  small  bit  of  the  "blarney  stone,"  and  a 
"drop  of  the  crathur;"  if  for  a  Frenchman,  the  cus- 
tomary frog  and  a  little  "eau  sucre;"  and  for  a  Yan- 
kee I  should  put  on  a  new  copper  cent  and  a  "Congress 
penknife"  for  whittling;  but  if  I  wanted  a  "greaser," 
a  cigarito,  a  pod  of  red  pepper,  and  a  tortilla  would 
insure  a  bite  at  any  stage  of  the  tide. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Still  on  the  Road — Inhuman  Treatment — Wallace  Uses  His 
"Big  Foot"  to  Advantage — Planning  an  Escape — Disappoint- 
ment— Monterey — The  Tarantula — Change  of  Commanders, 
and  Off  Again — Rinconada — Another  Plan  of  Escape,  and 
Another  Disappointment — Arrival  at  Saltillo,  and  Our  De- 
termination. 


Pnr^HE  last  chapter  left  us  on  the  road  to  Mon- 
I      terey.   One  day's  march  was  pretty  much  the 

JL  counterpart  of  another,  ending  at  night  by  our 
being  driven  into  some  corral  or  other  enclosure,  like 
so  many  cattle,  where  we  were  left  to  recruit  our  ex- 
hausted energies  as  best  we  might,  without  any  pro- 
tection from  the  weather,  and  with  barely  enough 
food  to  keep  us  from  an  absolute  state  of  starvation. 
On  one  occasion,  while  passing  through  a  little  village 
on  the  way,  the  customary  crowd  of  men,  old  women, 
and  boys  flocked  around  us,  shouting  "death  to  the 
ladrones"  (robbers),  and  "down  with  the  hereticos" 
(heretics) .  One  little  scamp,  in  the  excitement  of  the 
moment,  ventured  within  reach  of  my  foot,  which  you 
see  is  a  No.  12,  and  I  gave  him  a  kick  which  would 
have  done  credit  to  a  vicious  mule,  and  of  which,  no 
doubt,  he  has  a  distinct  recollection  to  this  day.  He 
went  off  howling  like  a  full-grown  cayote,  but,  fortu- 
nately for  me,  none  of  the  guard  noticed  this  little  by- 
play, as  otherwise  I  should  certainly  have  been  pun- 
ished for  it  with  a  thrust  from  a  bayonet,  or  cut  from 
a  broadsword. 

When  shivering  around  our  miserable  camp-fire  at 
night,  exposed  to  the  cold  winds  or  pitiless  rains,  we 


192  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

frequently  debated  among  ourselves  the  possibility  of 
surprising  and  capturing  our  guard,  and,  with  the 
arms  and  ammunition  we  expected  to  secure  in  this 
way,  of  effecting  our  retreat  into  Texas  before  a  suffi- 
cient force  to  retake  us  could  be  collected  together. 
We  at  length  agreed  that  the  attempt  should  be  made 
at  a  little  place  called  Sacata,  one  day's  march  ahead 
of  us,  and  where  we  expected  to  be  quartered  for  the 
night.  Captain  Cameron  was  chosen  for  our  leader  in 
the  perilous  undertaking,  and  it  was  understood,  when 
the  propitious  moment  for  the  attack  should  come, 
that  he  was  to  notify  us  of  the  fact  by  the  command 
*'draw,"  the  usual  order  given  when  we  were  formed 
in  line  to  receive  our  rations. 

On  our  arrival  at  Sacata,  we  were  turned  into  the 
corral  as  usual,  and  the  guard  took  up  their  usual  posi- 
tions on  the  outside  around  us.  Our  plan  for  the 
attack  was  all  arranged,  and  late  in  the  evening,  when 
our  rations  were  brought  in,  every  one  fixed  his  eyes 
upon  Captain  Cameron,  momentarily  expecting  him 
to  give  the  wished  for  signal,  but  when  he  stepped  out 
and  said,  "Draw  your  rations  ^rj/,"  the  men  con- 
cluded that  something  had  gone  wrong,  and  every  one 
quietly  kept  his  place.  The  rations  were  then  distrib- 
uted to  us,  and  the  attack  postponed  for  a  time. 

I  never  understood  what  reason  Captain  Cameron 
had  for  giving  up  the  attempt  of  surprising  the  guard 
at  Sacata,  but  I  have  no  doubt  it  was  a  good  one,  for 
he  was  as  reckless  of  danger  as  any  man  that  ever 
lived. 

The  next  day  we  continued  our  march,  and  at 
length,  wearied  and  worn  down  with  the  fatigues  and 
hardships  of  our  tramp,  we  reached  the  city  of  Mon-      J 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 93 

terey.  A  great  crowd  of  persons,  as  usual,  came  out 
to  meet  us  as  we  approached,  by  whom  we  were 
escorted  into  the  city,  but  though  they  evidently  re- 
garded us  as  a  species  of  wild  cannibals,  they  treated 
us  with  more  courtesy  and  respect  than  we  had  met 
with  elsewhere,  and  on  our  arrival  in  the  city  we  were 
at  once  conducted  to  our  quarters.  They  were  much 
more  cleanly  and  comfortable  than  those  that  had 
been  allotted  to  us  in  other  places.  Still  they  were  not 
such  quarters  as  one  gets,  for  instance,  at  the  St. 
Charles  Hotel,  in  New  Orleans.  No  sofas,  no  lounges, 
no  chairs,  no  tables,  nor  even  a  common  stool  to 
dignify  with  the  name  of  furniture — nothing,  in  fact, 
but  bare  stone  walls,  marked  and  scribbled  over  with 
pieces  of  charcoal  by  former  occupants  of  these  luxu- 
rious abodes. 

Here  one  of  our  guard  was  bitten  the  first  night  of 
our  arrival  by  a  tarantula,  a  sort  of  large  venomous 
spider,  and  although  the  Mexicans  tried  many  kinds 
of  "remedios"  to  relieve  him,  they  all  failed,  and  he 
died  in  a  few  hours.  I  can't  say  I  lost  much  sleep  from 
grief  on  account  of  his  death,  for  he  was  a  noted 
tyrant,  and  treated  our  men  most  cruelly  whenever  he 
could  do  so  with  impunity.  Only  a  day  or  two  before, 
I  saw  him  cut  one  of  our  men  severely  with  his  sword, 
merely  because  he  had  loitered  a  moment  behind  the 
rest  to  tie  his  shoestring.  On  another  occasion,  when 
some  of  us  were  complaining  of  the  scantiness  of  our 
fare,  he  went  out  and  collected  from  the  back-yard  a 
quantity  of  old  bones  and  other  filthy  offal,  and  return- 
ing, threw  them  on  the  ground  before  us,  bidding  us 
eat,  as  that  was  good  enough  for  such  abominable 
heretics  as  we  were.    Before  he  died,  the  priest  was 


194  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

sent  for  to  "confess"  him,  and  if  he  only  owned  up  to 
a  tithe  of  the  rascalities  and  crimes  he  had  committed, 
I  am  sure  the  long  list  must  have  astonished  even  a 
Mexican  padre. 

Monterey  was  the  handsomest  Mexican  town  we 
had  yet  seen.  It  is  situated  in  a  rich  and  fertile  valley, 
watered  by  clear  cold  streams  that  take  their  rise  in 
the  adjacent  mountains. 

In  the  suburbs  I  noticed  a  number  of  handsome 
private  residences,  with  beautiful  grounds  and  gar- 
dens attached,  in  which  the  orange,  and  the  lemon, 
and  the  fig,  and  many  other  tropical  fruits  and  plants 
were  growing  luxuriantly.  The  city  seemed  to  be  well 
fortified,  and  some  years  subsequently,  when  General 
Taylor  attacked  the  place  with  his  forces,  I  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  them  pretty  well  battered  by  our 
artillery.  They  would,  no  doubt,  have  been  demol- 
ished if  it  had  not  been  for  that  "same  white  flag" 
which  the  Mexicans  always  hoist  when  in  a  tight  place, 
and  with  which  they  "bamboozled"  General  Taylor 
on  that  occasion  in  the  same  way  they  had  so  often 
done  the  Texans  before  him. 

We  were  much  more  kindly  treated  while  in  Mon- 
terey than  we  had  been  in  Camargo,  Matamoros,  and 
other  places  on  our  route.  We  were  indebted  particu- 
larly to  many  of  the  foreign  residents  in  the  city,  who 
took  pity  on  our  forlorn  condition,  and  supplied  us 
with  provisions  and  such  articles  of  clothing  as  we 
stood  most  in  need  of.  Among  our  men  there  were 
a  few  Roman  Catholics,  and  we  noticed,  as  a  general 
thing,  that  they  fared  better  and  were  allowed  more 
privileges  by  the  guard  than  the  rest  of  us.  Several 
sudden  conversions  to  the  Catholic  creed  were  the 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 95 

result  of  this,  but  I  remained  constant  to  my  "heretical 
opinions;"  for  I  did  not  think  it  right  to  assume  the 
garb  of  religion  for  such  purposes. 

Before  leaving  Monterey,  to  our  great  joy,  Colonel 
Barragan,  a  kind  and  humane  man,  was  placed  in 
command  of  our  guard,  and  the  cowardly  tyrant 
Canales  assigned  to  some  other  duty.  We  remained 
in  Monterey  three  or  four  days,  and  then  took  up  the 
line  of  march  once  more — this  time  for  Rinconada,  a 
large  hacienda  about  thirty  miles  distant,  situated 
near  the  river  San  Juan. 

On  the  route,  the  question  of  attacking  our  guard 
was  discussed,  and  we  determined  to  make  the  attempt 
the  first  good  opportunity  that  might  present  itself. 
We  knew  that  the  farther  we  penetrated  into  the  coun- 
try the  poorer  would  be  our  chances  of  making  our 
way  back  safely  to  Texas  after  we  had  effected  our 
liberation. 

On  our  arrival  at  Rinconada  we  were  quartered  in 
an  old  building,  and  our  guard  in  two  adjoining  ones, 
one  on  each  side.  After  supper,  our  project  of  attack- 
ing the  guard  was  talked  over  again,  and  it  was  re- 
solved to  carry  it  into  execution  at  that  place.  The 
attack  was  to  be  made  at  daylight  in  the  morning. 

At  the  appointed  time  we  were  all  up  and  ready  for 
the  fray,  but  just  then  we  heard  the  rolling  of  the 
Mexican  drums,  and,  looking  through  the  chinks  in 
our  quarters,  discovered  the  whole  Mexican  force 
filing  out  from  the  rooms  they  had  occupied,  and  in  a 
few  moments  we  were  ordered  to  fall  into  line  and 
prepare  to  march. 

There  was  no  doubt  in  our  minds  that  our  plans  had 
been  divulged  to  the  Mexicans  by  some  one,  but  who 


196  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

It  was  we  never  knew  to  a  certainty.  What  could  have 
been  his  motive  for  betraying  us  it  is  hard  to  say, 
unless  he  thought  by  so  doing  he  would  secure  better 
treatment  from  the  Mexicans  for  himself.  Had  not 
our  secret  been  divulged,  it  is  more  than  probable  we 
would  have  effected  our  intended  surprise  of  the 
guard  at  Rinconada,  from  whence  the  chances  are  we 
could  have  made  good  our  retreat  into  Texas,  before 
a  sufficient  force  of  regular  soldiers  could  have  been 
collected  to  stop  our  advance.  What  a  number  of 
lives  might  have  been  saved,  and  what  an  amount  of 
suffering  avoided,  if  we  had  not  been  thus  basely 
betrayed. 

We  at  length  reached  Saltillo,  without  anything  of 
particular  interest  transpiring  on  the  way.  Saltillo  is 
a  city  of  considerable  Importance,  containing,  I  sup- 
pose, some  ten  or  twelve  thousand  inhabitants.  Here 
our  guard  was  considerably  reinforced,  which  satis- 
fied us  all  the  more  that  our  intention  of  attacking 
them  had  been  divulged  by  some  one. 

We  remained  at  Saltillo  but  a  day  or  two,  and  then 
continued  our  route  through  a  desolate  and  barren 
country,  toward  the  city  of  San  Luis  Potosi.  Our 
guards  were  so  wary  and  vigilant  that  we  had  no 
chance  of  surprising  them,  until  we  came  to  Salado, 
a  little  place  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  or 
thirty  miles  from  Saltillo,  near  which  we  were  quar- 
tered for  the  night.  We  were  confined  in  some  old 
adobe  buildings,  and  our  guards,  as  usual,  were  posted 
in  front  of  us.  Here  we  were  resolved  to  carry  our 
plan  of  attack  into  operation,  no  matter  what  might 
be  the  result. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Successful  Attack  on  the  Mexican  Guard — Bravery  of  Colonel 

Barragan — Retreat  from  Salado — Rapid  Traveling — Bad 

Counsels  —  Suffering  for  Water  —  In   Difficulties  — 

Water  at  Last — The  Horses  Killed  and  Eaten. 


T 


|/^  ]f  ^HE  next  morning  about  sunrise,  observing  that 
the  guard  had  stacked  their  gunswhile  engaged 
in  cooking  their  breakfast,  we  held  a  hurried 
consultation  as  to  what  was  best  to  be  done,  and  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  put  it  into  execution. 

Our  plan  was  for  Captain  Cameron  to  "raise  the 
yell"  when  he  thought  the  proper  moment  for  the 
attack  had  arrived,  and  at  this  signal  our  men  were 
to  rush  out  suddenly,  knock  down  the  sentinels  sta- 
tioned at  the  doors,  and  hasten  to  seize  the  guns  that 
were  stacked  in  front  of  the  Mexican  camps — all  of 
which  we  hoped  to  accomplish  before  the  Mexicans 
could  recover  from  the  disorder  into  which  we  thought 
the  suddenness  of  our  attack  would  throw  them. 

Captain  Cameron  took  his  seat  near  the  open  door, 
for  the  purpose  of  watching  the  movements  of  the 
Mexicans,  who  were  scattered  about  here  and  there, 
busily  engaged  in  cooking  their  breakfast,  and  totally 
unsuspicious  of  our  designs.  We  anxiously  waited  for 
the  concerted  signal  from  him,  and  when  it  was  given 
a  "yell  was  raised"  that  might  have  been  heard  for 
miles,  and  out  we  poured  from  our  dens  like  a  pack  of 
ravenous  wolves.  In  an  instant,  the  sentinels  who 
were  stationed  at  the  doors  were  knocked  down  and 
trampled  under  foot,  and  we  dashed  forward  as  rap- 


198  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

idly  as  possible  to  where  the  guns  were  stacked.  The 
Mexican  soldiers  made  a  rush  for  them  at  the  same 
moment,  and  a  fierce  struggle  took  place  for  their 
possession.  But  the  Americans  generally  had  the  ad- 
vantage over  their  foes  in  strength  and  weight,  and 
the  contest  was  of  short  duration. 

As  soon  as  we  had  secured  the  guns,  the  Mexicans 
fled  in  the  wildest  confusion,  leaving  ten  of  their  num- 
ber dead  upon  the  ground.  Our  loss  was  five  killed — 
Dr.  Brennan,  Fitzgerald,  Rice,  Lyons,  and  Haggerty ; 
wounded — Hancock,  Captain  Baker,  Sansbury,  Har- 
vey, and  another,  whose  name  I  have  now  forgotten. 

Colonel  Barragan  made  every  effort  to  rally  his 
men  after  they  were  thrown  Into  confusion  by  the 
suddenness  of  our  attack.  He  exerted  himself  man- 
fully to  retrieve  the  fortunes  of  the  day,  but  without 
success,  for  the  Mexican  soldiers  were  thoroughly 
^'stampeded,"  and  nothing  could  stop  their  precipitate 
flight.  At  length  he  succeeded  in  rallying  a  small  party 
of  the  fugitives,  and  with  these  he  returned.  Advanc- 
ing fearlessly  up  to  our  lines,  he  addressed  himself  to 
Captain  Cameron,  telling  him  that  if  we  would  surren- 
der ourselves  to  him,  he  pledged  his  word  that  we 
should  be  treated  kindly,  and  not  be  punished  for  any- 
thing we  had  done.  He  said  a  good  deal  more  to  the 
same  purpose,  but  we  were  deaf  to  all  his  arguments, 
and  he  finally  rode  off  and  left  us. 

Before  Colonel  Barragan  left,  in  consideration  of 
his  bravery  and  of  his  kind  and  humane  treatment 
when  in  command  of  our  guard.  Captain  Cameron 
ordered  his  horse,  sword,  and  other  equipments, 
which  we  had  captured,  to  be  returned  to  him.  Cap- 
tain Cameron  then  recommended  our  wounded  men  to 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  1 99 

his  care,  and  he  promised  us  he  would  take  charge  of 
them  and  protect  them  to  the  extent  of  his  power,  and 
this  promise  we  afterward  learned  he  faithfully  kept. 
And  I  here  take  great  pleasure  in  giving  my  testimony 
of  the  fact  that  this  Colonel  Barragan  was  a  clever 
fellow  and  a  gentleman,  although  he  had  the  misfor- 
tune to  be  born  a  Mexican.  He  was  another  example 
of  the  truth  of  the  old  saying,  that  bravery  is  always 
an  ingredient  of  a  magnanimous  disposition.  The 
domineering,  tyrannical  man  is  generally,  though  not 
always,  a  coward  at  heart.  I  have  seen  but  few  ex- 
ceptions to  the  rule. 

We  captured  all  the  guns  the  Mexicans  had,  and 
ninety-seven  horses  and  mules,  and  all  their  baggage 
and  equipments.  Having  selected  the  best  guns  for 
our  own  use,  we  broke  up  the  balance.  I  think  I  de- 
stroyed nearly  a  cart-load  myself.  I  took  an  especial 
pleasure  in  demolishing  the  ^'scopets,''  remembering 
the  kicking  I  got  from  one  of  them  on  a  former 
occasion. 

After  destroying  the  arms,  and  burning  up  all  the 
tents  and  camp-equipage  belonging  to  the  guard,  we 
put  out  from  Salado  with  as  little  delay  as  possible, 
taking  the  road  to  Agua  Nueva,  and  riding  and  walk- 
ing by  turns,  as  we  had  only  one  animal  for  every  two 
men. 

About  midnight  we  stopped  for  a  few  moments  at  a 
"ranch"  on  the  road,  to  get  something  to  eat,  and  then 
continued  our  route  and  traveled  until  about  sunrise 
the  next  morning,  when  we  halted  for  several  hours  to 
rest  ourselves  and  our  jaded  animals,  having  made 
upward  of  seventy  miles  from  Salado,  our  starting 
point. 


200  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

On  the  road  we  went  at  a  full  trot  the  whole  time, 
those  on  foot  keeping  up  with  the  horsemen  at  that 
gait  until  exhausted,  when  they  would  take  their  turn 
in  riding.  The  Mexicans,  who  are  hard  travelers 
themselves,  particularly  when  an  enemy  is  behind 
them,  could  scarcely  believe  we  made  so  great  a  dis- 
tance in  such  a  short  time,  and  under  such  circum- 
stances. Our  object,  of  course,  in  making  this  forced 
march,  was  to  get  so  far  ahead  on  the  road  as  to 
render  it  next  to  impossible  for  a  Mexican  force  to 
pursue  us  with  any  chance  of  overtaking  and  recap- 
turing us ;  and  had  we  followed  the  road  from  this  on^ 
as  we  ought  to  have  done,  there  is  every  probability 
we  would  have  succeeded  in  making  our  way  back  to 
Texas;  but,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter,  rash  counsels 
prevailed  among  our  leaders,  and  we  were  persuaded 
to  leave  the  high  road  and  take  our  course  through  an 
unknown  and  barren  country,  in  which  neither  food 
nor  water  could  be  found. 

We  remained  but  a  short  time  at  our  halting  place, 
and  then  took  up  the  line  of  march  again.  After  trav- 
eling some  eighteen  or  twenty  miles,  we  quit  the  road, 
and  turning  to  the  left,  entered  a  deep  ravine  that  ran 
up  toward  the  mountains.  Passing  for  some  distance 
along  this,  we  at  length  came  out  upon  an  open  plain, 
in  which  we  discovered  a  ranch  in  the  direction  we 
were  traveling.  We  hurried  forward  toward  it,  hop- 
ing to  get  a  supply  of  water,  but  as  we  approached  it 
more  nearly,  we  saw  that  the  housetops  and  windows 
were  crowded  with  soldiers.  We  concluded  it  would 
be  paying  too  dearly  for  a  little  water  to  storm  such 
a  strong  position  to  obtain  it,  so  we  passed  on.  After 
crossing  a  spur  of  mountain  we  came  to  a  little  pool 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  20I 

of  muddy  water,  from  which  we  procured  enough  to 
quench  our  thirst. 

Some  miles  further  on  we  came  to  a  ranch,  and  find- 
ing out  from  the  people  living  there  that  we  were  con- 
siderably to  the  east  of  the  course  we  wished  to  pur- 
sue, we  turned  more  to  the  west  and  traveled  on  till 
night  overtook  us,  when  we  encamped  at  the  foot  of 
a  mountain. 

The  next  morning  we  were  on  the  way  again  by 
sunrise,  and  after  going  some  distance  we  came  to  the 
road  running  to  Monclova.  This  we  followed  for  a 
few  miles,  when  we  met  an  Englishman  (an  old 
acquaintance  of  Captain  Cameron),  who  advised  us 
to  go  with  him  to  a  ranch  he  owned  near  by,  where  he 
told  us  he  could  furnish  us  with  provisions,  of  which 
by  this  time  we  were  nearly  destitute.  He  urgently 
advised  us  not  to  leave  the  road  and  go  off  into  the 
mountains,  a»  the  majority  of  our  men  and  officers 
were  in  favor  of  doing,  and  told  us  there  were  no 
troops  along  the  road  to  intercept  us,  and  that  if  we 
abandoned  it  and  turned  off  through  the  desolate  and 
mountainous  country  that  lay  in  the  direction  we  pro- 
posed traveling,  we  would  inevitably  perish  for  want 
of  food  and  water.  Well  would  it  have  been  for  us 
if  we  had  done  as  this  Englishman  advised,  for  I  am 
satisfied  now  that  he  was  truly  anxious  to  aid  us  in 
effecting  our  escape  into  Texas ;  but  somehow  the  ma- 
jority of  us  came  to  the  conclusion  that  he  was  not  to 
be  trusted,  and  that  he  was  merely  seeking  to  delay  us 
on  the  way  until  a  sufficient  force  should  have  time  to 
pursue  and  overtake  us.  So  we  declined  accepting  the 
friendly  offers  and  advice  of  the  Englishman,  and  con- 
tinued our  route  until  late  at  night,  when  we  came  to  a 


202  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

little  place  called  San  Felipe,  where  we  left  the  road 
and  encamped  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains. 

The  next  morning,  we  continued  our  course  over 
the  dreary-looking  mountains  that  rose  up  before  us, 
and  their  barren  and  desolate  appearance  disheart- 
ened even  those  who  had  been  the  warmest  advocates 
for  seeking  the  protection  of  their  solitudes.  All  day 
long  we  toiled  through  this  sterile  region,  until  night 
overtook  us  again,  when  we  encamped  at  the  bottom 
of  a  ^'barranca"  or  deep  canon. 

Several  times  during  the  day  our  progress  was  im- 
peded by  deep  gulches  and  almost  perpendicular  walls 
of  rock,  through  and  up  which  we  found  it  nearly  im- 
possible to  force  our  jaded  and  broken-down  hacks. 
Not  a  single  drop  of  water  had  been  seen  upon  the 
whole  route,  and,  thirsty  and  dispirited,  we  wrapped 
our  scanty  covering  around  us  and  lay  down  upon  the 
cold  ground,  and  endeavored  to  forget  our  troubles 
in  sleep. 

Some  time  during  the  night,  a  small  party,  that  had 
been  sent  in  advance  of  the  main  body  to  reconnoitre, 
came  into  camp  and  reported  an  abundance  of  water 
within  two  or  three  miles  of  us.  This  was  joyful  news 
to  us,  and  all  hands  were  at  once  roused  up,  and  with- 
out attempting  to  preserve  any  order  in  our  line  of 
march,  we  stumbled  along  in  the  darkness  among  the 
gulches  and  ravines,  each  one  for  himself,  until  we  all 
safely  reached  the  desired  locality,  and,  after  slaking 
our  thirst  with  hearty  draughts  of  the  grateful  fluid, 
we  lay  down  once  more  and  slept  soundly  until  morn- 
ing. We  then  went  back  to  our  first  halting-place, 
gathered  up  our  half-starved,  broken-down  horses, 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  203 

and  such  of  our  equipments  as  had  been  left  behind, 
and  returned  with  them  to  our  "water-hole." 

Here  we  concluded  to  remain  and  recruit  ourselves 
for  the  balance  of  the  day,  and  as  it  was  deemed  im- 
possible to  take  our  poor  jaded  hacks  any  farther 
through  the  rugged  and  mountainous  country  ahead 
of  us,  and  as  there  was  not  a  blade  of  grass  in  all  that 
barren  region,  we  determined,  as  a  matter  of  hu- 
manity, to  kill  them  all,  and  thus  save  them  from  the 
miseries  of  a  prolonged  death  from  starvation.  This 
we  proceeded  at  once  to  do,  cutting  the  throats  of  the 
poor  animals  with  our  butcher-knives,  in  order  to  save 
our  ammunition,  of  which  we  had  but  a  limited  quan- 
tity. This  was  a  job  I  didn't  fancy  at  all,  and  when  I 
came  to  cut  the  throat  of  the  wretched  "Rosinante" 
that  had  borne  my  comrade  and  myself  so  faithfully 
and  well  ever  since  our  escape  from  the  guard,  he 
looked  at  me  so  knowingly  and  pleadingly  out  of  his 
sunken,  hollow  eyes,  that  my  heart  failed  me  entirely, 
and  my  comrade,  who  was  not  so  "squeamish,"  had 
to  play  the  part  of  executioner. 

When  the  horses  had  all  been  killed,  we  selected  a 
few  of  them  that  were  in  the  best  condition  (and  a 
decent  Mexican  buzzard  would  have  disdained  to 
whet  his  bill  upon  any  one  of  them) ,  skinned  and  cut 
them  into  small  strips,  which  we  "jerked"  over  fires 
made  of  a  sort  of  weed,  the  only  fuel  to  be  found  in 
many  places  in  these  barren  mountains.  When  we  had 
prepared  as  much  of  the  meat  in  this  way  as  the  men 
could  conveniently  carry  in  their  knapsacks,  it  was 
divided  out  among  them,  and  at  daylight  the  next 
morning  we  were  again  on  the  march. 


204  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

Little  did  we  think,  when  we  left  this  camp,  that  we 
had  tasted  the  last  drop  of  water  that  was  to  moisten 
our  parched  lips  for  six  weary  days  and  nights ;  but  so 
it  was.  Oh,  those  wretched,  wretched  days  and  nights ! 
I  shall  never  forget  them  as  long  as  I  live.  After  toil- 
ing all  day  over  broken,  barren,  rugged  mountains, 
suffering  the  agonies  of  torturing,  excruciating  thirst, 
we  laid  down  at  night  upon  our  hard  rocky  beds,  to 
dream  in  broken  and  disturbed  slumbers  of  bubbling 
springs  and  rippling  brooks,  which  somehow  always 
mysteriously  disappeared  when  we  were  just  in  the 
act  of  quaffing  their  sparkling  waters. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

A  Dreary  Prospect — No  Water — Dying  by  the  Wayside — Hun- 
ger and  Thirst — Dreaming  of  Water — Hopes  and  Disap- 
pointments— Captured  by  the  Mexicans — Water  at  Last^ — 
Wretched  Condition  of  the  Survivors. 

WITH  much  difficulty,  even  on  foot,  we  at 
length  forced  our  way  up  the  almost  per- 
pendicular walls  of  the  mountain  that  rose 
up  in  the  direction  we  proposed  traveling.  When,  at 
length,  we  had  reached  the  top,  we  were  appalled  by 
the  dreary  prospect  that  presented  itself  to  our  view. 
Behind  us  lay  the  dismal  valley  from  which  we  had 
just  emerged,  over  the  surface  of  which,  scattered 
here  and  there  as  they  had  fallen,  lay  the  dead  car- 
casses of  our  animals,  looking  like  little  specks  in  the 
distance;  and  the  thin  columns  of  smoke,  rising  up 
from  some  smouldering  fires  we  had  left  burning,  and 
the  naked  rocky  hills  that  encircled  it,  gave  it  a  re- 
markable resemblance  to  the  crater  of  some  slumber- 
ing volcano.  Before  us,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach, 
mountain  after  mountain,  rose  up,  rough,  rugged  and 
broken,  and  the  total  absence  of  everything  like  vege- 
tation too  surely  indicated  that  no  water  was  to  be 
found  in  the  parched-up  valleys  that  lay  between 
them ;  and  over  all  this  dismal  prospect  a  burning  sun 
poured  down  its  scorching  rays  from  a  cloudless  sky, 
with  an  intensity  that  greatly  aggravated  the  thirst 
from  which  we  had  already  begun  to  suffer  exces- 
sively, before  the  toils  of  this  weary  day  had  ended. 
We  were  much  depressed  in  spirits  by  the  barren 


2o6  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

and  desolate  appearance  of  the  country  ahead  of  us; 
still  there  was  no  alternative  but  to  go  forward,  for 
we  knew  if  we  retraced  our  steps  we  would  inevitably 
be  recaptured  by  our  vigilant  foes,  and  anything,  we 
thought,  was  preferable  to  that.  And  so  we  went  on 
all  through  that  weary  day,  up  one  rugged,  rocky 
mountain,  and  down,  and  up  another,  still  hoping  and 
trusting  that  in  some  of  the  ravines  or  canons  that  lay 
between  them  (for  they  could  not  be  called  valleys), 
we  would,  at  length,  come  across  a  stream  or  pool  of 
water  sufficient  to  slake  our  thirst.  But  everywhere 
we  were  continually  disappointed.  No  murmuring 
streams  rippled  over  the  sandy  beds  of  the  gulches 
and  canons  we  passed — all  were  parched  up,  and  as 
dry  as  if  a  drop  of  rain  had  not  fallen  in  that  dreary 
region  since  the  days  of  the  Flood.  And  thus  we 
struggled  on  till  darkness  closed  over  the  scene,  when, 
abandoning  all  hope  of  finding  water  that  day,  we  en- 
camped for  the  night  among  the  broken  rocks  and 
debris  at  the  bottom  of  a  deep  canon. 

In  the  morning,  dispirited  and  unrefreshed  by  our 
comfortless  bivouac  in  the  caiion,  we  again  took  our 
toilsome  way  over  gulches  and  ravines,  and  up  and 
down  the  steep  and  scraggy  sides  of  the  mountains, 
that  everywhere  impeded  our  progress.  And  thus  we 
staggered  on  for  several  days  in  succession,  through 
this  desolate  wilderness,  still  hoping  for,  but  never 
finding,  the  cooling  stream  or  pool  of  water,  in  which 
we  longed  to  slake  the  intolerable  agonies  of  thirst 
that  was  consuming  our  very  vitals. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fifth  day  we  made  an  early 
start,  in  order  to  get  over  as  much  ground  as  possible 
before  the  sun  should  acquire  its  full  power.   But,  by 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  207 

the  time  it  had  risen  above  the  tops  of  the  mountains 
to  the  eastward  of  us,  the  suffering  of  the  men  became 
so  intolerable  that  many  of  them,  to  relieve  them- 
selves of  all  superfluous  weight,  threw  away  their  guns 
and  equipments,  and  what  remained  of  their  rations 
of  jerked  meat — for  hunger  was  not  felt  or  feared — 
our  whole  craving  was  for  water!  water!  Many  of 
the  men  gave  out  entirely,  and  laid  down  on  the  way- 
side to  die,  but  no  one  paid  any  attention  to  them,  for 
great  suffering,  such  as  we  were  enduring,  is  apt  to 
render  men  callous  and  unfeeling  toward  each  other. 
Still  the  rest  of  us  struggled  on,  hoping  that  our 
strength  might  hold  out  until  we  came  to  water ;  but 
we  toiled  up  one  rugged,  barren  mountain,  only  to  see 
another  as  rugged  and  barren  rise  up  before  us. 

The  way  appeared  interminable,  and  no  change  of 
scenery  varied  the  tiresome  monotony,  or  gave  us  any 
indication  of  our  approach  to  the  long-wished-for 
stream  or  pool  of  water.  Not  a  tree  nor  a  sprig  of 
grass  was  to  be  seen  anywhere.  Nothing  like  vegeta- 
tion, except  in  a  few  localities,  where  a  species  of  leaf- 
less, withered  weed  managed,  in  some  way,  to  draw  a 
precarious  sustenance  from  the  parched  and  gravelly 
soil.  All  was  barren,  desolate,  and  scorched  up  by  the 
long-continued  drought  that  had  prevailed  in  that 
country.  Not  a  living  animal  was  to  be  seen,  nor  was 
the  song  of  a  bird,  or  even  the  chirping  of  a  cricket 
ever  heard  during  all  our  wandering  in  this  wilder- 
ness which  might  appropriately  have  been  termed  any- 
thing but  "howling;"  for  even  a  "cayote"  could  not, 
by  any  possibility,  have  existed  there  for  many  days. 
Night  at  length  overtook  us  again,  and,  worn  out, 
despairing,  and  suffering  indescribable  tortures  from 


208  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

thirst,  we  threw  ourselves  upon  the  ground  to  pass 
away,  as  best  we  might,  the  wretched  hours  till 
morning. 

All  night  long  I  could  hear  the  men  moaning  in 
their  uneasy  slumbers,  and  crying  out  for  water! 
water !  I  had  heard  that  by  chewing  a  leaden  bullet 
thirst  could  be  partially  alleviated,  and  I  tried  it  upon 
this  occasion,  but  without  success.  It  may  afford  some 
relief  when  the  thirst  is  not  excessive,  but  in  the  ex- 
tremity to  which  we  were  reduced  for  the  want  of 
water,  it  did  not  seem  to  have  the  least  effect. 

The  suffering  caused  by  hunger  is  not  comparable 
to  that  resulting  from  long-continued  thirst.  I  had 
rather  starve  a  week  than  go  two  days  without  water 
in  warm  weather,  especially  when  compelled  to  travel 
on  foot.  Hunger  comes  by  ''fits  and  starts."  There 
are  intervals,  even  after  starving  for  days,  when  one 
is  comparatively  free  from  pain  or  suffering,  and  in 
sleep  one  can  occasionally  find  temporary  relief  from 
its  pangs.  But  with  thirst  it  is  very  different.  There 
is  not  a  moment's  cessation  of  the  suffering,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  it  increases  regularly  in  intensity,  until  the 
tongue  becomes  black  and  swollen  and  protrudes  from 
the  mouth,  and  the  eyes,  bloodshot  and  bleared,  seem 
as  if  they  are  about  to  start  from  their  sockets.  Even 
sleep  affords  no  respite  whatever  from  this  terrible 
anguish.  Horrible  shapes  gibber  and  moan  around 
the  wretched  slumberer,  and  frighten  him  away  from 
the  gushing  spring  or  rippling  brook,  that  forever 
haunts  his  mind,  waking  or  sleeping. 

One  spring  in  particular  haunted  me  in  my  dreams 
— one  that  I  had  often  frequented  in  my  boyhood's 
days,  in  one  of  the  gorges  of  the  Blue  Ridge  in  Vir- 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  209 

ginia.  It  poured  out  from  the  mouth  of  a  small  cave, 
at  the  foot  of  a  high  bluff,  in  a  bold  rivulet  larger  than 
my  arm,  which  ran  off  through  an  old  mossy  trough 
six  or  eight  feet  long  to  the  edge  of  a  ravine,  down 
which  it  pattered  and  splashed  with  a  musical  sound 
very  agreeable  to  the  ear  of  the  passer-by  on  a  hot 
summer's  day.  During  my  disturbed  slumbers  that 
night,  if  I  attempted  to  take  a  drink  at  that  spring 
once,  I  tried  it  a  thousand  times,  but  something  always 
prevented  me,  just  as  I  was  on  the  eve  of  placing  my 
parched  lips  to  the  mossy  spout. 

In  18 — ,  many  years  after  this,  when  I  went  back 
to  "Old  Virginia"  to  see  my  relatives,  I  visited  this 
spring  again,  and  there  it  was,  still  pattering  and 
splashing  down  into  the  ravine  below,  just  as  I  had 
seen  it  so  often  in  imagination  during  my  wanderings 
in  the  mountains  of  Mexico ;  and  I  took  a  last  drink 
from  the  mossy  spout,  though  I  was  not  in  the  least 
thirsty,  just  for  old  acquaintance's  sake. 

On  the  morning  of  the  seventh  day  after  our  en- 
trance into  these  dismal  solitudes,  we  resumed  our 
cheerless  march  again,  or  rather,  I  should  say,  those 
of  us  that  still  remained  together  under  the  leadership 
of  Captain  Cameron ;  for  by  this  time  many  had  fallen 
by  the  way  from  exhaustion,  and  others  singly  or  in 
small  squads  had  wandered  off  in  various  directions 
in  their  search  for  water.  Mechanically  as  it  were, 
and  scarcely  knowing  or  caring  whither  we  went,  we 
crawled  up  the  side  of  the  sterile  mountain  ahead  of 
us,  frequently  pausing  on  the  way  to  recover  our 
breath  and  strength.  At  last,  when  with  much  labor 
we  had  gained  the  top  of  the  mountain,  a  joyful  pros- 
pect presented  itself  to  our  view,  and  instilled  new  life 


2  lO  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

and  vigor  into  our  worn-down  frames.  Below  us  lay 
an  extensive  valley,  covered  in  places  with  thick  chap- 
arral, and  in  others  with  clumps  and  groves  of  trees, 
indicating  certainly,  as  we  thought,  the  proximity  of 
water. 

Resting  for  a  few  moments,  we  hastened  down  the 
mountain  as  rapidly  as  we  could,  toward  this  "land  of 
promise,"  but  the  distance  to  it,  and  the  difficulties  of 
the  way  were  much  greater  than  we  had  at  first  sup- 
posed, and  the  day  was  pretty  well  advanced  before 
we  reached  the  level  plain.  But  even  then,  in  vain  did 
we  search  every  gully  and  ravine  for  the  long-wished- 
for  element.  Not  one  drop  of  water  could  we  find. 
Some  of  the  stoutest  and  strongest  men  now  "gave  in" 
entirely,  and  dropped  down  by  the  way,  either  ex- 
hausted by  the  fatigue  they  had  undergone,  or  else 
utterly  overcome  by  the  sufferings  they  endured  from 
the  intense  thirst  that  preyed  upon  them.  Others  wan- 
dered off  into  the  dense  "chaparral"  in  their  frantic 
search  for  water,  and  were  lost. 

When  the  sun  went  down,  on  this  wretched  day, 
only  fifty  or  sixty  men  still  dragged  their  weary  limbs 
after  our  gallant  leader,  Captain  Cameron,  of  which 
remnant  I  was  one.  But  so  terrible  were  our  agonies 
from  the  internal  fires  that  consumed  our  vitals,  that 
we  never  thought  of  halting  as  usual  when  night  over- 
took us,  but  staggered  on,  like  drunken  men,  scarcely 
conscious  of  what  we  were  doing.  Some  wandered  in 
their  minds,  and  prayed,  or  cursed,  or  sang,  as  their 
different  dispositions  prompted. 

I  noticed  one  poor  fellow,  as  he  stumbled  along  in 
the  dark  over  the  stones  and  bushes  that  beset  our 
path,  cheerily  singing,  in  a  very  faint  voice,  "And 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  211 

who'll  be  king  but  Charlie."  He  was  as  crazy  as  a 
bed-bug,  of  course. 

About  lo  o'clock  at  night,  we  discovered  some  fires 
burning  ahead  of  us,  and  supposed  that  they  were  the 
signal  fires  of  some  one  of  our  straggling  parties,  to 
let  us  know  that  water  had  been  found.  We  pushed  on 
toward  them  as  fast  as  we  could,  and  scarcely  had  the 
foremost  men  reached  them,  when  a  large  Mexican 
force  rose  up  on  all  sides  of  us,  and  enclosed  us  in 
their  lines. 

No  attempt  at  resistance  was  made;  indeed,  we 
would  have  been  utterly  incapable  of  anything  of  the 
sort,  even  if  we  had  been  armed,  but  as  well  as  I  re- 
member now  not  more  than  ten  or  a  dozen  of  our  men 
still  carried  their  muskets  with  them — the  rest  having 
thrown  them  away  while  in  the  mountains.  The 
Mexicans  seized  us  at  once,  tied  us  in  pairs  together, 
and  laid  us  on  the  ground.  We  begged  and  implored 
them,  in  the  most  piteous  terms,  to  give  us  some 
water,  and  they  measured  out  from  the  gourds  they 
had  brought  along  with  them  a  very  small  drink  for 
each  one  of  us,  not  venturing  to  trust  them  in  our 
hands  for  fear  we  should  take  too  much  at  one  time. 
Though  not  the  twentieth  part  of  what  would  have 
been  sufficient  to  quench  our  thirst,  I  shall  never  for- 
get as  long  as  I  live  the  delicious  taste  and  coolness 
of  that  drink  of  water !  If  you  want  to  know  what  that 
"nectar"  is  which  is  said  to  be  imbibed  by  the  gods 
alone,  travel  for  six  days  under  a  burning  sun,  without 
a  drop  of  water  to  cool  your  "coppers,"  and  then  take 
a  long  "swig"  at  a  Mexican  gourd,  filled  to  the  brim 
with  the  pure  element.    Then,  and  not  till  then,  can 


2  1 2  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

you  fully  appreciate  its  great  superiority  over  all 
other  drinks. 

At  early  dawn  the  next  morning,  the  Mexicans  un- 
tied us,  and  we  all  started  for  the  nearest  water. 
From  the  place  where  the  Mexicans  recaptured  us,  as 
well  as  I  remember,  it  was  fifteen  or  twenty  miles 
distant,  and  without  their  guidance  and  assistance  we 
could  never  have  made  half  the  distance,  even  if  we 
had  known  in  what  direction  to  travel.  But  such  of  us 
as  were  the  weakest  and  least  able  to  walk  were 
mounted  on  horseback,  and  in  this  way  we  reached 
the  *'water-hole"  by  12  or  i  o'clock  in  the  day.  On 
the  route,  the  Mexicans  gave  us  two  or  three  times  a 
small  drink  of  water  from  the  gourds  they  had 
brought  along  with  them,  but  this  only  seemed  to  ag- 
gravate our  thirst  the  more,  though  I  have  no  doubt 
it  was  better  for  us  than  it  would  have  been  if  we  had 
been  supplied  with  all  we  wanted  at  one  time.  I  am 
inclined  to  think  so  from  the  fact  that,  soon  after  we 
were  recaptured  by  the  Mexicans,  one  of  them  care- 
lessly left  his  gourd,  filled  with  water,  within  reach 
of  one  of  our  men,  who  instantly  snatched  it  up  and 
drained  it  dry  before  he  took  it  from  his  lips.  He  was 
seized  with  terrible  pains  a  little  while  afterward,  and 
for  several  hours  we  thought  he  would  die;  but  he 
eventually  recovered. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

Encampment  at  the  Water-Hole — Wretched  Appearance  of 
the  Men — March  Back  to  Saltillo — Mexican  Vermin — How 
Wallace  Was  Dressed — Mexican  Vegetation — The  Tiger 
Thorn — Conflicting  Rumors. 

WHEN  at  length  we  came  to  the  water 
(which  was  contained  in  a  sort  of  artificial 
tank  or  reservoir) ,  we  were  led  down  to  it 
under  guard,  and  only  permitted  to  drink  for  a  few 
moments;  but  before  they  succeeded  in  "horning  me 
off,"  I  am  confident  I  secured  at  least  a  gallon  "under 
my  belt."  But  I  experienced  no  bad  results  from  hav- 
ing drank  so  freely ;  on  the  contrary,  my  strength  was 
rapidly  restored  to  me  from  that  moment. 

Here  we  found  encamped  the  main  body  of  the 
Mexican  cavalry  that  had  been  sent  in  pursuit  of  us. 
The  wretched  appearance  we  presented  seemed  to 
touch,  to  some  extent,  even  the  callous  hearts  of  our 
enemies,  and  with  the  exception  of  again  tying  us  to- 
gether in  pairs,  they  offered  us  no  indignity.  In  truth, 
we  were  as  woe-begone  a  looking  set  of  "scarecrows" 
as  were  ever  congregated  together,  I  suppose,  at  one 
time.  Some  were  without  hats,  some  without  shoes, 
and  one  could  scarcely  tell  from  the  shreds  of  clothing 
that  still  hung  about  us  to  what  garments  they  origi- 
nally belonged. 

I  noticed  one  fellow  who  was  hatless,  and  with  but 
one  shoe  on,  with  one  leg  of  his  pantaloons  torn  en- 
tirely off,  and  nothing  left  of  his  coat  except  the  collar 
and  sleeves,  and  a  few  little  strips  of  the  lining  still 


214  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

dangling  behind  his  back.  Our  beards  were  rough  and 
unshaven,  and  our  matted  and  uncombed  locks  hung 
down  in  "swads"  around  our  faces,  pinched  and 
sharpened  by  long  abstinence  from  food  and  water, 
from  out  of  which  our  sunken  hollow  eyes  glared  with 
a  wild  and  demoniac  expression  not  at  all  pleasant  or 
assuring  to  the  beholder. 

We  remained  at  this  tank,  or  water-hole,  for  three 
days,  during  which  time  most  of  the  men  that  had 
wandered  off  from  us  in  the  mountains,  singly  or  in 
squads,  were  hunted  up  by  the  Mexicans  and  brought 
into  camp.  Only  thirteen,  I  think,  were  missing,  and 
as  nothing  was  ever  afterward  heard  from  them,  it  is 
reasonable  to  suppose  they  ultimately  perished  from 
thirst,  and  no  doubt  their  bones  are  bleaching  to  this 
day  in  some  of  the  dreary  gulches  and  ravines  of  those 
inhospitable  mountains,  from  which  we  had  made 
such  a  narrow  escape  ourselves. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day,  we  were 
told  by  our  guard  to  prepare  for  the  march,  and  in  a 
few  moments  they  started  off  with  us  on  the  road 
toward  Saltillo. 

To  prevent  all  chance  of  another  "uprising'  on  our 
part,  of  which  they  seemed  to  be  continually  in  dread, 
they  tied  our  hands  securely  behind  us  with  raw-hide 
thongs,  and  thus  "hampered"  we  had  to  march  all  the 
way  back  to  Saltillo. 

I  never  knew  before  how  necessary  a  free  use  of  the 
arms  was,  to  enable  one  to  walk  with  ease  and  celerity. 
A  twenty  miles'  march,  with  our  arms  pinioned  down 
in  this  way,  fatigued  us  as  much  as  twice  the  distance 
would  have  done  if  they  had  been  unfettered. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  2 1  5 

We  were  several  days  on  the  road,  during  which 
time  nothing  of  interest  that  I  remember  now  oc- 
curred. On  our  arrival  at  Saltillo,  we  were  taken 
again  to  our  old  quarters,  In  which  we  were  once  more 
securely  fastened  up  and  closely  guarded.  I  had  been 
but  a  day  or  so  in  these  dirty  barracks  when  I  fully 
appreciated  the  extent  of  the  misfortune  I  had  met 
with  in  the  loss  of  my  fine-tooth  comb. 

And  here  I  may  as  well  say  to  over-sensitive 
readers,  that  perhaps  it  would  be  as  well  for  them  to 
skip  to  the  bottom  of  this  chapter,  as  it  is  not  my  wish 
or  Intention  to  say  anything  offensive  to  "ears  polite ;" 
but  I  have  started  out  with  the  determination  of  tell- 
ing my  story  my  own  way,  and  I  must  do  it,  or  aban- 
don the  attempt  altogether.  With  this  fair  warning, 
I  shall  resume  the  story  of  what  I  endured  from  the 
loss  of  my  fine-tooth  comb. 

Vermin  swarmed  In  countless  numbers  In  the  miser- 
able quarters  in  which  we  were  confined.  Even  the 
bare  floors  at  times  were  thickly  covered  with  them. 
Our  Mexican  guard  did  not  seem  to  mind  them  much ; 
in  fact,  I  rather  think  they  liked  them,  and  that.  In 
some  way  or  other,  they  were  absolutely  necessary  to 
their  health  and  comfort.  I  verily  believe,  if  one  of 
them  had  been  suddenly  freed  from  all  sorts  of  the 
vermin  with  which  they  were  Infested,  that  he  would 
not  have  slept  soundly  for  a  week  afterward.  They 
never  use  a  comb,  and  of  course  it  is  only  the  larger 
and  overgrown  fellows  they  succeed  In  capturing  by 
the  primitive  method  of  "looking  each  other's  heads." 
These  they  "crack"  between  their  teeth,  apparently 
with  much  gusto  and  relish,  by  way,  I  suppose,  of 
retaliation — "bite  for  bite." 


2  1 6  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

For  want  of  a  comb  myself,  I  was  compelled  to 
have  my  hair  cut  off  short  and  permit  my  finger  nails 
to  grow  untrimmed.  With  these  I  became  so  expert, 
after  long  practice,  that  I  could  rake  out  a  fellow 
above  a  certain  size  with  unerring  certainty,  whenever 
by  biting  or  crawling  he  designated  sufficiently  his 
exact  locality.  By  this  primitive  method,  I  kept  myself 
pretty  well  rid  of  all  the  full-grown  chaps,  but  the 
*'small  fry"  dodged  the  question  entirely,  and  unfor- 
tunately it  is  the  nature  of  the  "brute"  to  commence 
the  propagation  of  his  species  the  moment  he  is 
hatched.  Often  when  a  fellow,  by  hard  raking  and 
combing,  if  lucky  enough  to  be  the  possessor  of  a  fine- 
tooth  comb,  has  come  to  the  conclusion  that  at  last  he 
has  entirely  freed  his  head  from  these  disgusting  occu- 
pants, he  wakes  up  the  next  morning  to  find  it  as 
densely  populated  as  ever.  I  speak  advisedly  on  this 
subject,  for  I  had  many  opportunities,  while  impris- 
oned in  Mexico,  of  studying  the  "habits  and  customs" 
of  all  kinds  of  "vermin." 

The  evil  was  aggravated  by  our  want  of  a  change 
of  clothing  and  the  scanty  supply  of  water  furnished 
us  for  our  ablutions.  As  for  myself,  I  had  worn  from 
necessity  the  same  suit  of  clothes  I  had  on  when  we 
made  our  escape  from  the  guard,  and  after  traveling 
in  them  all  this  time  over  dusty  roads,  and  sleeping 
in  them  at  night  upon  the  ground,  it  can  easily  be  im- 
agined that  my  costume  was  not  exactly  a  suitable  one 
for  a  ball-room  or  a  fashionable  assembly.  But  little 
was  left  of  my  shirt.  My  hat  had  long  since  gone  by 
the  board,  and  in  place  of  it  my  head  was  partially 
protected  from  the  sun  by  a  red  cotton  handkerchief, 
wrapped  around  it  somewhat  in  the   fashion  of  a 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  2  1 7 

Turkish  turban.  I  had  but  one  shoe  left,  which  was 
in  a  very  dilapidated  condition,  and  in  lieu  of  the 
other  a  raw-hide  sandal  was  strapped  on  my  foot 
with  leathern  thongs.  My  coat  was  tattered  and  torn 
by  thorns,  and  like  Joseph's,  from  frequent  mending 
with  all  sorts  of  materials,  was  of  many  colors,  but 
the  dirt  or  drab  color  predominated  over  all.  It  is 
impossible  to  describe  the  remnant  of  my  pantaloons. 
They  hung  upon  me  in  shreds  that  were  inextricably 
bound  together  by  thongs  and  strings,  and  upheld  by 
a  system  of  "tackling"  as  complicated  as  that  of  a 
seventy-four  gun  ship,  to  compare  small  things  with 
great;  and  from  out  of  these  habiliments  a  counte- 
nance presented  itself  that  had  been  guiltless  of  a 
thorough  cleansing  for — I  am  ashamed  to  say  how 
long.  "Such  a  beauty  I  did  grow!"  If  my  old  sweet- 
heart, Jenny  Foster,  could  have  seen  me  then,  I  am 
sure  her  heart  would  have  relented,  and  that  she 
would  have  reversed  that  cruel  decision  that  sent  me 
"packing  off"  to  Texas  some  years  before. 

Everything  that  grows  in  Mexico,  or  at  least  in  that 
portion  of  it  in  which  I  had  traveled,  has  thorns  upon 
it,  which  will  account  satisfactorily  for  the  dilapida- 
tion of  my  clothing  in  such  a  short  space  of  time. 
Even  the  very  grass  has  thorns  or  spurs  upon  it,  as  we 
frequently  found  to  our  cost,  whenever,  forgetful  of 
the  fact,  we  seated  ourselves  upon  it  for  a  moment's 
rest  or  repose.  I  remember  once  seeing  a  shrub  in 
Mexico  which  at  a  little  distance  appeared  to  be  cov- 
ered with  dense  green  foliage,  but  upon  a  nearer  ap- 
proach I  discovered  that  it  was  leafless,  and  simply  a 
rtiass  of  thorns,  thorns  growing  out  of  thorns. 


2 1  8  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

The  prickly  pear,  or  cactus,  the  varieties  of  which 
comprise  three-fifths  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  in  that 
part  of  Mexico,  are  all  armed  with  spears,  pikes,  and 
thorns,  of  all  lengths  and  sizes,  from  the  minute 
prickle,  so  small  that  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain  its 
locality  when  fixed  in  the  flesh,  except  by  the  irritation 
it  causes,  to  pikes  and  spears  long  enough  for  a  buffalo 
to  impale  himself  upon. 

Everything  in  this  wretched  country  seems  to  be 
constituted  for  a  state  of  continual  warfare,  as  if 
nature  herself  sympathized  in  some  way  with  the  nor- 
mal political  condition  of  its  inhabitants.  The  cattle 
have  the  longest  horns;  the  snakes  all  have  fangs; 
every  insect  you  touch  stings  or  bites  you,  or  both  at 
the  same  time;  and,  as  I  have  said  before,  the  trees, 
shrubs,  and  grasses  are  all  thorny :  even  the  frogs  and 
toads,  so  soft,  moist  and  flabby  in  other  countries,  are 
here  protected  by  hard,  dry,  scaly  hides,  and  horns 
upon  the  head. 

There  was  one  species  of  shrub,  with  long,  crooked, 
cat-like  talons,  which  was  dubbed  by  our  men  the 
"tiger  thorn,"  from  the  fact  that  its  slender  elastic 
branches  were  frequently  held  in  a  constrained  posi- 
tion by  the  twigs  and  foliage  of  other  shrubs,  and 
when  loosened  by  the  passer-by,  they  would  spring  up 
voluntarily,  as  it  seemed,  and  seize  him  with  their 
crooked  claws,  very  much  as  the  tiger  springs  from 
the  jungle  and  seizes  upon  its  prey.  I  have  left  many 
a  rag  fluttering  in  the  breeze  upon  the  branches  of  this 
terrible  "tiger  thorn,"  proud  trophies  of  the  numer- 
ous contests  we  had  had,  and  showing  that  I  had 
always  retreated  from  the  field  with  the  loss  of  part 
of  my  baggage  and  equipments. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  2  1 9 

We  remained  at  Saltillo  several  weeks,  awaiting,  it 
was  said,  orders  from  Santa  Ana,  the  President  of 
Mexico,  as  to  our  further  disposition.  During  this 
time  many  and  conflicting  rumors  reached  our  ears 
as  to  what  was  to  be  our  ultimate  fate.  For  some  days 
it  was  generally  believed  that  we  were  to  be  sent  on  to 
the  City  of  Mexico,  where  we  were  to  be  immediately 
released  or  paroled  and  shipped  back  home  by  the 
way  of  New  Orleans.  Then  again  it  was  reported 
among  us,  that  a  dispatch  had  been  received  from 
Santa  Ana  ordering  the  immediate  execution  of  every 
one  of  us,  but  that  General  Mexier  had  refused  to 
carry  out  the  barbarous  mandate. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  there  must  have  been  some 
truth  in  this  report,  as  General  Mexier,  before  we  left 
Saltillo,  resigned  his  joint  commission  of  Comman- 
dante  and  Governor  of  the  State.  Besides,  I  learned 
afterward,  when  a  prisoner  in  the  City  of  Mexico, 
that  all  the  foreign  ministers  resident  there,  as  soon 
as  they  heard  of  this  order,  remonstrated  against  it 
as  barbarous  and  inhuman,  and  Santa  Ana  revoked 
the  order,  substituting  in  its  place  the  one  requiring 
the  '^decimation"  or  execution  of  every  tenth  man. 
vVe  had  no  intimation,  however,  that  any  of  these 
orders  had  been  actually  passed  until  both  of  the 
latter  were  read  to  us  subsequently  at  Rancho  Salado, 
where  the  "decimation"  took  place. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

Sudden  Change  of  Quarters — Rancho  Salado  Once  More — 
Brutal  Order — The  Drawing  of  the  Beans — "Dip  Deep, 
Boys" — The  Baboon-faced  Mexican  Officer — Indifference  of 
the  Men — The  One  Exception — Wallace  Draws  a  White 
Bean  — "Ould  Ireland  Forever" —  Speedy  Execution — A 
Miraculous  Escape  and  Subsequent  Death. 

A  FTER  our  long  sojourn  at  Saltillo,  we  were 
/z^^  one  morning  roused  up  by  our  guard,  and 
-A.  )\  told  to  get  ready  to  march,  as  we  were  to 
start  that  day  to  the  City  of  Mexico.  A  few  moments 
afterward  the  guard  paraded  in  front  of  our  quarters. 
We  were  taken  out  and  formed  into  line,  and  marched 
off  on  the  road  back  toward  Rancho  Salado,  where, 
some  weeks  previously,  we  had  risen  upon  and  sur- 
prised the  guard  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Bar- 
ragan.  Handcuffed  and  bound  together  in  pairs,  to 
cut  off  all  chance  of  our  escaping  or  making  another 
attack  upon  the  guard,  we  were  driven  along  the  road 
at  a  gait  that  would  have  been  "killing"  even  to  men 
that  were  not  fettered  as  we  were. 

On  the  evening  of  the  fourth  day,  I  think  it  was, 
after  leaving  Saltillo,  we  came  in  sight,  once  more,  of 
the  lonely,  desolate  Rancho  Salado.  The  officer  now 
in  command  of  the  guard.  Colonel  Ortez,  had  spoken 
kindly  to  us  frequently  during  the  day,  telling  us  to 
"be  cheerful  and  walk  up  fast,  for  that  the  sooner  we 
arrived  at  the  City  of  Mexico,  the  sooner  we  would 
be  liberated  and  sent  back  home."  Notwithstanding 
these  assurances,  from  the  first  moment  the  men 
caught  sight  of  the  dismal  old  ranch,  whether  it  was 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  221 

the  dreariness  of  the  locality,  or  the  recollection  of 
what  had  happened  there  when  we  rose  on  the  guard, 
and  of  the  sufferings  and  disasters  that  followed  in 
the  wake  of  that  event,  or  whether  it  was  some  dim 
foreboding  of  the  "bloody  scene"  that  was  to  be  en- 
acted there  again  so  soon,  that  weighed  upon  the 
minds  of  the  men,  I  know  not;  but  not  a  word  was 
uttered  by  any  one,  as  we  trudged  along  silent  and 
depressed,  until  we  reached  the  hated  spot,  and  were 
once  more  securely  fastened  up  in  the  same  corral  we 
had  occupied  before. 

But  a  few  moments  elapsed  before  an  officer,  ac- 
companied by  an  interpreter,  entered  the  corral,  and 
calling  our  attention,  proceeded  to  read  to  us  from  a 
paper  he  held  in  his  hand,  a  mandate  from  the  ''Sut 
preme  Government  of  Mexico,"  ordering  the  instant 
execution  of  every  tenth  man.  Some  of  the  more  san- 
guine among  us  fully  thought  that  the  paper  contained 
an  order  for  our  release,  and  eagerly  crowded  around 
the  interpreter  to  hear  the  joyful  news;  but  when  the 
purport  of  the  writing  was  explained  to  us  by  the  inter- 
preter, this  barbarous  decimation  of  our  number  came 
upon  us  so  unexpectedly  that  we  stood  for  a  moment 
stunned  and  confused  by  the  suddenness  of  the  shock. 
Then  a  reaction  took  place,  and  if  our  hands  had  only 
been  unshackled,  unarmed  as  we  were,  the  old  Rancho 
Salado  would  have  witnessed  another  up-rising,  ten 
times  as  bloody  as  the  first;  but  when  we  looked  upon 
our  manacled  limbs,  and  the  serried  ranks  and  glitter- 
ing bayonets  of  the  large  guard  drawn  up  around  us, 
we  saw  at  once  that  any  attempt  at  resistance  would 
be  utter  folly,  and  we  quietly  submitted  to  our  fate. 


222  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

It  was  determined  that  the  seventeen  men  to  be 
executed  should  be  selected  by  lottery,  and  in  a  little 
while  a  squad  of  Mexican  officers  came  into  the  corral, 
preceded  by  a  soldier  bearing  an  earthen  vessel,  which 
he  placed  upon  a  low  stone  wall  bounding  the  farther 
side  of  the  corral,  and  which  was  intended  to  hold  a 
number  of  white  and  black  beans,  corresponding  to 
the  number  of  men  and  officers  in  our  command.  The 
Mexican  officers  stationed  themselves  near  the 
earthen  pot,  to  overlook  and  superintend  the  lottery, 
and  see  that  every  one  had  a  fair  chance  for  his  life. 
One  of  them  then  proceeded  to  count  out  so  many 
white  beans,  which  he  poured  into  the  vessel,  and  then 
dropped  in  the  fatal  seventeen  black  ones  on  top  of 
them,  covering  the  whole  with  a  thick  napkin  or  cloth. 
We  were  then  formed  into  line  and  drawn  up  in  front 
of  the  low  wall  on  which  the  earthen  pot  had  been 
placed. 

Before  the  drawing  began,  they  informed  us  that  if 
any  man  drew  out  more  than  one  bean,  and  either  of 
them  should  prove  a  black  one,  he  would  be  regarded 
as  having  drawn  a  black  one  solely,  and  be  shot  ac- 
cordingly. 

Our  commissioned  officers  were  ordered  to  draw 
first.  Captain  Cameron  stepped  forward,  and  with- 
out the  slightest  visible  trepidation  put  his  hand  under 
the  cloth  and  drew  out  a  white  bean.  He  had  ob- 
served, when  the  Mexican  officer  put  the  beans  in  the 
pot,  that  he  poured  the  white  in  first  and  the  black 
ones  on  top  of  them,  and  then  set  it  down  without 
shaking,  possibly  with  the  intention  of  forcing  as  large 
a  number  as  possible  of  the  black  beans  upon  our  com- 
missioned officers,  who  were  to  have  the  first  drawing. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  225 

When  he  returned  to  his  place  in  the  line,  he  whis- 
pered to  those  nearest  him,  "Dip  deep,  boys,"  and  by 
following  his  advice  all  the  officers  drew  white  beans 
except  Captain  Eastland. 

After  the  officers  had  all  drawn,  the  "muster-rolls" 
of  the  men  were  produced,  and  we  were  called  for- 
ward as  our  names  appeared  upon  them.  Some  of  the 
Mexican  officers  present  were  evidently  much  affected 
by  the  courage  and  nonchalance  manifested  by  the 
men  in  this  fiery  trial ;  others,  on  the  contrary,  seemed 
to  enjoy  the  whole  proceedings  hugely,  particularly 
one  little  swarthy  baboon-visaged  chap,  that  looked 
as  if  he  had  subsisted  all  his  life  on  a  short  allowance 
of  red  pepper  and  cigaritos.  He  appeared  to  take  an 
especial  delight  in  the  hesitation  of  some  of  the  men 
when  they  put  their  hands  into  the  vessel,  for  even  the 
bravest  felt  some  reluctance  to  draw  when  he  knew 
that  life  or  certain  death  depended  upon  the  color  of 
the  bean  he  might  select.  Whenever  there  was  the 
slightest  hesitation,  this  officer  would  say,  in  appar- 
ently the  most  commisserating  tone:  "Take  your 
time,  mi  nino  (my  child)  ;  don't  hurry  yourself,  mi 
muchaco  (my  boy)  ;  be  careful,  mi  pobrecito  (poor 
fellow)  ;  you  know  if  you  get  a  black  bean  you  will  be 
taken  out  and  shot  in  ten  minutes" — a  fact  we  had 
already  been  fully  apprised  of. 

"Ah!  that's  unfortunate,"  he  would  say,  when  a 
poor  fellow  drew  a  black  bean;  "but  better  luck  to 
you  the  next  time." 

Yet,  all  the  while  he  was  talking  in  this  way,  in  the 
kindest  accents,  a  devilish  grin  on  his  baboon-face 
indicated  the  great  pleasure  he  took  in  the  anxiety  and 
distress  of  these  "poor  fellows." 


226  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

I  am  not  of  a  revengeful  disposition,  but  if  that 
Mexican  had  ever  fallen  into  my  power,  his  chances 
of  living  to  a  "good  old  age"  would  have  been  miser- 
ably slim,  and  I  could  have  recognized  him  among  ten 
thousand,  for  his  weazen  features  and  his  diabolical 
grin  were  indelibly  impressed  upon  my  memory.  I'll 
tell  you  how  I  would  have  served  him.  I  would  have 
bought  a  bushel  of  black  beans,  cooked  them  about 
half  done  in  a  big  pot,  and  made  him  sit  down  upon  it 
and  eat  until  he  bursted.  I'd  have  given  him  a  dose 
that  would  have  stretched  his  little  tawny  hide  as 
tight  as  a  bass-drum.  He  should  have  had  his  fill  of 
black  beans  for  once,  to  a  certainty. 

Those  who  drew  black  beans  seemed  to  care  very 
little  about  it.  Occasionally  one  would  remark,  as  he 
drew  out  the  fatal  color>  "Well,  boys,  the  jig  is  up 
with  me;"  or,  "They  have  taken  my  sign  in  at  last;" 
or  something  of  a  similar  character,  and  then  give 
way  to  the  next,  apparently  as  unconcerned  as  if  he 
had  no  interest  whatever  in  what  was  going  on 
around  him. 

There  was  but  a  single  exception  to  this.  One  poor 
fellow,  a  messmate  of  mine,  too,  appeared  to  be  com- 
pletely overcome  by  his  apprehensions  of  drawing  a 
black  bean.  He  stood  until  his  own  time  to  draw  came 
round,  wringing  his  hands  and  moaning  audibly,  and 
continually  telling  those  near  him  that  he  knew  he 
should  draw  a  black  bean ;  that  he  had  a  presentiment 
such  would  be  his  fate.  When  his  turn  came,  he  hung 
back,  and  absolutely  refused  to  go  up  at  all  until  a  file 
of  Mexican  soldiers  forced  him  forward  at  the  points 
of  their  bayonets.  He  hesitated  so  long  after  he  put 
his  hand  into  the  vessel  containing  the  beans  that  a 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  227 

Mexican  officer  near  him  pricked  him  severely  with 
his  sword  to  make  him  withdraw  it.  All  this,  of  course, 
was  immensely  gratifying  to  the  little  baboon-faced 
official,  who  "ninoed"  and  ^'pobrecitoed"  him  in  his 
kindest  tones,  all  the  while,  though,  evidently  snicker- 
ing and  laughing  in  his  sleeve  at  the  fears  exhibited  by 
the  "pobrecito." 

At  last  the  poor  fellow  was  forced  to  withdraw  his 
hand,  and  his  presentiment  proved  too  true,  for  in  it 
he  held  the  fatal  black  bean.  He  turned  deadly  pale 
as  his  eyes  rested  upon  it,  but  apparently  he  soon  re- 
signed himself  to  his  inevitable  fate,  for  he  never 
uttered  a  word  of  complaint  afterward.  I  pitied  him 
from  the  bottom  of  my  heart. 

My  name  beginning  with  W,  was,  of  course,  among 
the  last  on  the  roll,  and  when  it  came  to  my  turn  to 
draw,  so  many  more  white  beans  than  black  had  been 
drawn  out  in  proportion,  that  there  could  have  been 
no  great  difference  in  the  number  of  each.  I  observed 
twenty-four  white  beans  drawn  out  in  succession.  The 
chances  of  life  and  death  for  me  were,  therefore,  not 
so  very  unequal.  I  will  frankly  confess,  when  I  put 
my  hand  into  the  pot  and  this  fact  recurred  to  my 
mind,  a  spasm  of  fear  or  dread  sent  a  momentary  chill 
to  my  heart,  but  I  mastered  it  quickly,  and  before  even 
the  lynx-eye  of  the  little  baboon-faced  official  detected 
any  sign  of  such  weakness.  At  any  rate,  he  bestowed 
none  of  his  endearing  epithets  upon  me. 

All  the  time  the  drawing  had  been  going  on  I  stood 
pretty  close  to  the  scene  of  operations,  and  I  thought 
I  could  perceive  a  slight  difference  in  the  size  of  the 
black  and  white  beans — that  the  former  were  a  shade 
larger  than  the  latter.   This  difference,  I  know,  may 


228  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

have  been  purely  imaginary,  but  at  any  rate,  I  was 
eventually  decided  by  it  in  my  choice  of  a  bean. 

When  I  first  put  my  hand  in  the  pot  I  took  up  sev- 
eral beans  at  once  in  my  fingers,  and  endeavored  to 
distinguish  their  color  by  the  touch,  but  they  all  felt 
precisely  alike.  I  then  dropped  them  and  picked  up 
two  more,  and  after  fingering  them  carefully  for  an 
instant,  I  thought  that  one  of  them  seemed  a  little 
larger  than  the  other.  I  dropped  that  one  like  a  hot 
potato,  and  drew  out  the  one  left.  It  was  a  white  one, 
of  course,  or  I  should  not  now  be  here  to  tell  my  story 
— ^but  not  a  very  white  one,  and  when  I  cast  my  eyes 
upon  it,  it  looked  to  me  as  "black  as  the  ace  of  spades." 

I  felt  certain  for  a  moment  that  my  fate  was  sealed, 
but  when  I  handed  it  to  the  Mexican  officer  who  re- 
ceived them  as  they  were  drawn  out,  I  saw  that  he  put 
it  on  the  wall  with  the  white  beans,  and  not  into  his 
waistcoat  pocket,  as  he  had  done  the  black  ones.  I 
knew  then  that  I  was  safe,  and  the  revulsion  of  feeling 
was  so  great  and  rapid  that  I  can  compare  it  to  noth- 
ing except  the  sudden  lifting  of  an  immense  weight 
from  off  one's  shoulders.  I  felt  as  light  as  a  feather, 
though  I  weighed  at  least  one  hundred  and  seventy 
pounds  net  (after  all  my  hardship  and  starvation), 
exclusive  of  the  remnant  of  clothing  I  had  on  me. 

Among  the  last  to  draw  was  an  Irishman,  by  the 
name  of  W — ,  a  fellow  noted  for  his  wit  and  humor, 
as  well  as  for  his  reckless,  dare-devil  character.  He 
put  his  hand  into  the  pot,  and  feeling  around,  discov- 
ered that  there  were  but  few  beans  left  in  it. 

"Arrah  now,  my  hinnies !"  he  said,  ''and  is  this  the 
way  you  would  thry  to  desave  an  innocent  man  to  his 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  229 

destruction?  Faith,  and  there's  not  a  dozen  beans  left 
in  the  pot,  and  I'll  not  draw  one  at  all." 

He  was  peremptorily  ordered  to  take  one  out  im- 
mediately. 

"Oh,  it's  for  murtherin'  me  ye  are,  ye  bloody  spal- 
peens," said  Pat,  "widout  judge  or  jury.  I  see  that  as 
plain  as  the  nose  on  my  face.  Yees  let  the  ither  men 
pick  and  choose  as  it  suited  'em,  out  of  scores  of  beans, 
and  now  there  isn't  a  dozen  left  in  the  pot,  and  I've  no 
choice  scarcely  at  all.  Divil  take  such  a  lotthery,  say  I. 
But  I  suppose  there's  no  help  for  it,  so  here  goes." 

And  Pat  drew  forth  his  bean,  and  everybody,  even 
the  Mexican  officers  themselves,  I  believe,  were  re- 
joiced when  it  proved  to  be  a  white  one. 

"There,  you  bloody  nagurs,"  said  Pat,  handing  the 
bean  to  the  officer,  "it  was  2l  black  one,  but  I  offered  up 
a  short  prayer  to  Saint  Pathrick,  you  see,  and  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,  he  convarted  it  into  a  white  one ! 
Hooray  for  Saint  Pathrick  and  Ould  Ireland  for- 
ever." 

When  the  drawing  was  completed,  the  white  and 
black  beans  were  carefully  counted  over  again,  and 
the  number  found  to  tally  with  that  of  the  men.  Those 
that  had  drawn  black  beans  were  kept  separate  from 
the  rest  of  us,  and,  in  a  few  moments  after  the  draw- 
ing was  concluded,  they  were  marched  off  in  two 
squads,  and  shortly  afterward  repeated  volleys  of 
musketry  were  heard,  and  we  knew  that  their  cares 
and  troubles  were  forever  ended  in  this  world. 

One  of  them,  however,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Shep- 
perd,  as  we  learned  subsequently,  made  a  most  miracu- 
lous escape  for  the  time  being.  When  they  were  fired 
upon  by  the  guard,  Shepperd  fell  and  pretended  to  be 


230  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

dead,  though,  In  fact,  he  was  only  slightly  wounded. 
He  was  left  on  the  ground  with  the  dead  bodies  of  his 
companions,  and  when  night  came  he  got  up  and  went 
off  without  being  observed.  The  next  morning,  when 
the  Mexicans  examined  the  bodies  again,  they  were 
greatly  astonished  to  find  that  one  was  missing,  and 
could  not  be  accounted  for  satisfactorily  In  any  way. 
Shepperd  wandered  around  for  several  weeks  without 
being  recaptured,  but  at  length  he  was  discovered, 
taken  back  to  Saltillo,  and  shot  to  death  in  the  public 
square,  and  his  body  carried  out  and  left  unburled  on 
the  commons. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

San  Luis  Potosi— Queretaro — Tuli — The  Black  Hole  of  Cal- 
cutta— Murder  of  Captain  Cameron — Arrival  at  the  City  of 
Mexico — Put  to  Work  on  the  Public  Road — How  Wallace 
Got  His  Pay — How  One  of  the  Men  "Played  Horse" — Escape 
of  Prisoners— Why  Wallace  Was  Called  "Big-Foot"— 
"Texas  Cannibals." 


T 


"^HE  next  morning  we  took  up  the  line  of  march 
for  San  Luis  Potosi,  but  before  leaving  the 
dreary  old  rancho,  we  were  taken  out  and 
drawn  up  in  line  in  front  of  the  bloody  and  stiffened 
forms  of  our  murdered  companions.  For  what  pur- 
pose this  was  done  I  know  not,  unless  it  was  to  inspire 
us  with  a  wholesome  dread  of  a  similar  fate  should 
we  ever  attempt  to  rise  upon  our  guard  again. 

In  four  or  five  days  we  arrived  at  San  Luis  Potosi, 
the  largest  city  we  had  yet  seen  in  Mexico.  It  has  a 
population  of  perhaps  fifty  or  sixty  thousand.  Here 
we  remained  several  days,  during  which  time  our 
handcuffs  or  "bracelets,"  as  we  termed  them,  which 
we  had  worn  constantly  for  more  than  a  month,  were 
taken  off. 

We  then  went  on  to  Queretaro,  also  a  considerable 
city ;  and  thence  to  Tuli,  a  little  village,  containing  a 
few  hundred  inhabitants. 

At  Tuli  we  were  all  crammed  into  a  small  room, 
without  ventilation,  and  came  near  suffocating  before 
we  were  liberated.  It  gave  me  a  vivid  conception  of 
the  horrors  of  the  "black  hole"  at  Calcutta. 

At  a  little  place  beyond  this,  the  name  of  which  I 
have  forgotten,  the  gallant  Captain  Cameron  was 


232  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

taken  out  and  shot  by  order  of  Santa  Ana.  I  under- 
stood the  plea  for  this  second  murder  was,  that  in  the 
lottery  of  the  black  and  white  beans,  there  was  a  frac- 
tional part  of  our  number  (not  quite  ten  men)  for 
which  no  additional  black  bean  had  been  put  in  the 
pot,  and  Captain  Cameron  was  shot  to  make  amends 
for  the  omission.  The  truth  is,  however,  the  Mexi- 
cans were  afraid  of  him,  and  no  doubt  had  deter- 
mined to  put  him  out  of  the  way  "by  fair  means  or 
foul."  No  braver  or  better  man  than  Captain  Cam- 
eron ever  lived  or  died.  His  death  was  universally 
regretted  by  the  men. 

In  two  or  three  days  we  arrived  at  the  City  of 
Mexico,  and  were  furnished  with  quarters  in  the 
prison  of  Santiago,  just  outside  its  limits.  A  descrip- 
tion of  the  City  of  Mexico  has  been  so  often  given, 
by  those  better  qualified  for  such  a  task  than  I  am, 
that  I  shall  not  attempt  it. 

We  remained  at  Santiago  but  a  few  days,  and  were 
then  transferred  to  the  prison  of  San  Angel.  Nearly 
everything  and  every  place  in  Mexico  is  named  after 
some  Saint;  and  among  them,  some  of  the  most  un- 
mitigated rascals  I  have  ever  known  have  rejoiced  in 
the  patronymic  of  "Jesus,"  or  "Hasoos,"  as  they  pro- 
nounce it. 

From  San  Angel,  at  the  expiration  of  nine  or  ten 
days,  we  were  taken  to  Molino  del  Rey,  where  we 
were  supplied  with  picks,  spades,  and  shovels,  and  put 
to  work  on  the  public  road  between  Tacubaya  and  the 
Bishop's  Palace.  We  remained  in  the  City  of  Mexico 
from  about  the  first  of  May  until  the  last  of  October, 
during  all  of  which  time  we  were  kept  pretty  con- 
stantly employed  on  the. public  works,  for  which  we 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  233 

have  never  received  one  dime  in  the  way  of  compen- 
sation to  this  day.  On  reflection,  however,  I  am  wrong 
in  making  such  an  assertion,  as  far  as  I  am  individu- 
ally concerned,  for  when  General  Taylor  captured 
Monterey  in  1846,  I  was  amply  repaid  for  all  the 
work  I  had  done  for  the  Mexican  Government,  in 
witnessing  the  defeat  and  discomfiture  of  their  "grand 
army"  at  that  place,  to  say  nothing  of  a  few  "pesos" 
I  picked  up  in  the  row. 

If  the  truth  must  be  told,  though,  we  never  injured 
ourselves  much  by  work  while  in  Mexico.  We  re- 
sorted to  all  sorts  of  expedients  that  would  enable  us 
to  slight  the  tasks  imposed  on  us.  For  instance,  when 
carrying  small  rocks  or  pebbles  in  the  sacks  furnished 
us  for  that  purpose,  we  would  tear  holes  in  them  and 
let  our  loads  drip  out  gradually  on  the  way,  so  that  by 
the  time  we  arrived  at  our  destination,  there  probably 
wouldn't  be  material  enough  left  in  the  sack  to  make 
a  "dirt-dauber's  nest." 

On  a  certain  occasion,  when  we  were  all  employed 
in  transporting  earth  and  other  materials  from  one 
part  of  the  road  to  another,  the  Mexicans  hitched  up 
some  of  our  stoutest  men  to  little  carts,  to  enable  us  to 
carry  on  the  work  more  rapidly.  Among  them  was  a 

stout  active  fellow  by  the  name  of  J ,  who  soon 

became  so  disgusted  with  "playing  horse"  that  he  re- 
solved to  "fly  the  track."  While  the  train  of  carts  was 
traveling  slowly  along  the  edge  of  the  embankment, 
he  suddenly  pretended  to  "take  fright"  at  some  object 
on  the  roadside,  and  giving  a  snort  that  a  mustang 
wouldn't  have  been  ashamed  of,  he  started  off  with  his 
cart  at  railway  speed.  In  vain  the  Mexican  guard  that 
were  stationed  along  the  road  at  intervals,  hallooed 


234  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

to  him  to  stop,  and  even  placed  themselves  in  his  way 
in  their  endeavors  to  arrest  his  flight.  But  nothing 
could  stop  his  headlong  career  after  he  had  once  got 
his  cart  fairly  under  way,  for  the  road  was  smooth 
and  hard  and  down-hill  in  the  direction  he  was  going. 

At  length  he  came  to  a  favorable  spot,  and  kicking 
himself  out  of  the  traces,  he  gave  the  cart  a  dexter-* 
ous  twist,  that  sent  it  whirling  down  to  the  bottom  of 
the  embankment,  where  it  was  dashed  to  pieces  on  the 
rocks.  This  was  all  the  work  of  an  instant;  and  con- 
tinuing his  flight  down  the  road  with  increased 
velocity,  when  freed  from  the  cart,  he  ran  on  a  hun- 
dred yards  or  so  farther,  when  he  suddenly  halted, 
whirled  round,  and  gave  another  snort  that  might 
have  been  heard  for  a  mile. 

I  verily  believe  the  Mexicans  thought  at  first  that 
he  had  run  off  involuntarily,  supposing,  perhaps,  it 
was  one  of  the  natural  characteristics  of  the  "wild 
Texans"  to  stampede  occasionally  like  wild  horses; 
but  when  the  fun  of  the  thing  gradually  dawned  upon 
them  they  laughed  heartily,  and  as  soon  as  the  run- 
away was  captured  and  brought  back,  instead  of  pun-t 
ishing  him  severely,  as  we  anticipated,  they  gave  him 
his  shovel  and  told  him  to  go,  and  never  afterward 
hitched  him  in  the  traces  again. 

While  in  the  City  of  Mexico,  nine  or  ten  of  our  men 
succeeded  in  making  their  escape  from  prison,  and 
eventually  the  most  of  them,  in  various  disguises, 
from  the  country.  They  got  out  of  their  cells  through 
a  small  tunnel  they  had  dug  with  their  knives  under 
the  foundations,  barely  large  enough  for  one  man  to 
pass  through  at  a  time.  They  worked  at  this  tunnel  by 
turns  during  the  night,  packing  off  the  dirt  and  other 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  235 

material  excavated  in  their  haversacks,  when  they 
went  out  to  their  daily  tasks.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
they  labored  much  more  faithfully  at  this  little  private 
job  than  they  ever  did  upon  the  public  works. 

Among  the  men  who  escaped  was  one  named 
Thompson,  who  had  played  "old  soldier"  upon  the 
Mexicans  the  whole  time.  When  we  were  recaptured 
in  the  mountains,  he  bound  up  one  of  his  legs  with  old 
rags,  and  pretended  to  be  too  lame  to  walk,  and  the 
guard  was  compelled  to  furnish  him  with  a  horse.  He 
never  walked  a  foot  of  the  way  from  there  to  the  City 
of  Mexico.  The  Mexicans  were,  therefore,  much 
astonished,  when  these  men  made  their  escape  from 
prison,  to  find  that  the  "pobrecito  coxo,"  as  they  called 
him  (the  ''poor  lame  fellow"),  Thompson,  was  one 
of  the  number.  I  knew  all  the  while  there  was  nothing 
in  the  world  the  matter  with  him,  but,  of  course,  I  felt 
no  disposition  to  betray  him. 

It  was  while  we  were  prisoners  at  the  City  of 
Mexico  that  I  acquired  the  name  of  "Big-Foot,"  which 
has  stuck  to  me  like  Texas  mud  ever  since.  It  hap- 
pened in  this  way :  Some  of  the  foreign  residents  of 
the  city,  observing  that  we  were  almost  in  a  shoeless 
condition,  made  up  by  contribution  among  themselves 
a  sufficient  sum  to  purchase  a  pair  of  shoes  for  each  of 
us.  Every  one  was  fitted  with  a  suitable  pair  except 
myself ;  but  I  searched  in  vain  every  shop  and"tienda" 
in  the  city  for  even  a  pair  of  No.  i  I's,  though  12's  fit 
me  best,  and  finally  I  had  no  alternative  left  me  but 
to  buy  the  leather  and  have  a  pair  put  up  on  purpose 
for  me  by  a  "zapatero,"  or  go  barefooted.  The  Mexi- 
cans are  generally  a  small  people  compared  with  the 
Americans,  and  their  feet  are  still  smaller  in  propor- 


236  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

tion;  consequently  they  were  much  astonished  at  the 
size  of  mine,  and  from  that  time  forward,  and  as  long 
as  I  remained  in  the  city,  I  was  known  among  them 
as  "Big-Foot." 

I  flatter  myself,  however,  that  my  foot  is  not  a  very 
large  one,  taking  into  consideration  the  fact  that  I  am 
just  six  feet  two  inches  in  height,  and  weigh  upward  of 
two  hundred  pounds  net.  But,  even  if  it  were  other- 
wise, there  is  nothing  dishonorable  in  the  appellation, 
and  I  would  rather  be  called  "Big-Foot  Wallace"  than 
"Lying  Wallace,"  or  "Thieving  Wallace."  Such  han- 
dles to  my  name  would  not  be  agreeable. 

During  our  stay  in  Mexico,  on  one  occasion,  when 
^ve  or  six  of  us  were  being  taken  by  a  guard  from  one 
part  of  the  city  to  another  for  some  purpose,  a  mob  of 
old  men,  women,  and  boys  gathered  around  us,  shout- 
ing "Muere  los  Gringos !"  "Down  with  the  heretics," 
etc.  Our  guard  endeavored  in  vain  to  keep  them  back, 
and  they  were  pressing  closer  and  closer  upon  us  in  the 
most  threatening  manner.  At  last  the  sergeant  in  com- 
mand of  the  guard  told  the  mob  if  they  did  not  give 
way  he  would  turn  the  "Texas  cannibals"  loose  among 
them.  We  heard  and  understood  very  well  what  he 
said,  and  to  carry  out  the  joke,  and  make  a  diversion 
in  our  favor,  three  or  four  of  us  grabbed  as  many  old 
women  and  boys  who  had  ventured  in  reach  of  us,  and 
made  out  we  were  going  to  eat  them  up  at  once,  with- 
out salt  or  pepper. 

I  clinched  an  old  wrinkled  squaw,  who  had  been 
making  herself  very  "prominent"  in  the  "melee,"  and 
took  a  good  bite  at  her  neck,  but  it  was  tougher  than 
a  ten-year-old  buffalo  bull's,  and  though  I  bit  with  a 
will,  and  can  crack  a  hickory-nut  easily  with  my  grin- 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  237 

ders,  I  could  make  no  impression  on  it  whatever. 
However,  this  unexpected  demonstration  on  the  part 
of  the  "Gringos"  took  the  mob  completely  by  sur- 
prise, and  they  scattered  like  a  flock  of  partridges, 
and  we  were  molested  no  more  that  day. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

Puebla — Perote — Wallace  Has  "Jail  Fever" — The  Surgeon- 
General  Saves  His  Life — Seeing  the  Animals — More  Men 
Escape — Final  Release,  and  Start  Home — Stopped  by  Rob- 
bers, Who  Prove  to  Be  Very  Clever  Fellows — Yellow  Fever 
— Home  Again. 

AT  various  times  during  our  stay  In  the  City  of 
Z:^  Mexico,  all  of  our  men  who  claimed  to  be 
A^  )\  British  subjects  were  released,  at  the  request 
of  the  English  minister,  Doyle.  The  United  States 
minister.  General  Waddy  Thompson,  I  believe  made 
every  effort  In  his  power  for  our  liberation,  but  for  a 
long  time  was  altogether  unsuccessful. 

I  could  easily  lengthen  out  my  narrative  of  the 
"MIer  Expedition"  by  entering  Into  a  detailed  account 
of  the  cities  and  countries  we  passed  through  while  In 
Mexico ;  and  by  commenting  upon,  and  censuring  or 
applauding  the  motives  and  conduct  of  the  prominent 
men  or  leaders  in  this  disastrous  expedition.  But  I 
had  no  Idea  of  attempting  to  write  a  professed  history 
of  the  "MIer  Expedition."  My  sole  object  has  been 
to  describe  such  scenes  and  Incidents  as  came  under 
my  own  observation,  and  to  relate  such  anecdotes  and 
occurrences  connected  therewith  as  I  thought  would 
be  interesting  or  amusing  to  my  readers.  This  I  have 
done  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  and  I  shall  now  hasten 
to  the  close  of  my  story. 

On  the  last  day  of  October,  we  left  the  City  of 
Mexico  for  Puebla,  and  thence  on  to  Perote.  Between 
Puebla  and  Perote  we  were  confined  one  night  In  a 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  239 

house  in  which  the  small-pox  was  raging,  but,  strange 
to  say,  none  of  us  contracted  the  disease. 

At  Perote  we  found  the  prisoners  that  had  been 
captured  at  San  Antonio  when  General  WoU  took 
possession  of  that  place.  Some  time  after  our  arrival 
at  Perote,  I  had  a  violent  attack  of  the  "jail-fever,"  as 
it  was  called — a  sort  of  epidemic  prevailing  among  us, 
produced,  I  suppose,  by  confinement  in  illy-ventilated 
quarters,  and  the  want  of  wholesome  and  sufficient 
food.  I  soon  became  delirious,  and  in  that  state  was 
removed  to  the  hospital,  with  many  others  suffering 
from  the  same  disease. 

In  the  height  of  my  delirium,  I  am  told,  I  became 
entirely  unmanageable,  and  several  times  "cleaned 
out"  all  the  guard  and  other  attendants  of  the  hos- 
pital. They  were  compelled  at  last  to  "lasso"  me,  and 
tie  me  down  to  my  bed,  which  w^as  effected  with  great 
difficulty,  for  my  strength  (and  I  am  no  chicken  at 
ordinary  times)  was  increased  fivefold  under  the  ex- 
citement of  fever. 

One  day,  after  my  frenzy  had  somewhat  abated, 
one  of  the  attendants  of  the  hospital  came  to  dress 
some  blisters  that  had  been  placed  upon  me  when  I 
was  delirious.  The  rascal  cooly  proceeded  to  handle 
me  as  if  I  had  been  as  devoid  of  feeling  as  a  "knot  on  a 
log,"  tearing  the  blisters  from  my  arms  by  main  force, 
and  causing  me  thereby  the  most  horrible  torture.  A 
heavy  copper  stew-pan  happened  to  be  within  reach 
of  me,  which  I  grabbed  instantly,  and,  exerting  all  the 
strength  I  had,  I  gave  him  a  "clew"  on  the  side  of  the 
head  with  it  that  knocked  him  senseless  to  the  floor. 
The  guard  stationed  in  the  room  immediately  rushed 
upon  me  with  their  drawn  sabres,  and  no  doubt  would 


240  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

have  made  mincemeat  of  me,  if  luckily  the  surgeon- 
general  had  not  at  that  moment  stepped  in  and  inter- 
posed his  authority  in  my  behalf,  and  saved  my  life. 
He  said  that  I  had  served  the  fellow  I  had  knocked 
down  exactly  right ;  that  he  richly  merited  the  chastise- 
ment, for  the  harshness  and  cruelty  with  which  he  had 
always  treated  the  sick  and  helpless. 

This  old  surgeon-general  was  one  of  the  best- 
hearted  men  I  ever  knew,  and  I  shall  never  forget  his 
kindness  to  me  when  I  was  sick  and  a  prisoner  at 
Perote.  For  some  reason,  he  took  a  great  fancy  to 
me,  and  always  favored  me  as  much  as  he  could,  and 
when  I  left  there  he  made  me  a  handsome  present  of 
money  and  clothes.  He  was  a  Castilian,  or  Spaniard, 
by  birth,  and  not  a  Mexican,  which  may  account  satis- 
factorily in  a  great  measure  for  the  fact  that  he  was 
not  a  bigoted  tyrant  in  disposition.  At  any  rate  I  hope 
he  may  live  a  thousand  years  and  never  lose  his  front 
teeth,  for  a  Spaniard  or  Mexican  cannot  manage  the 
"cigarito"  very  well  without  them. 

While  at  Perote,  the  "Dons"  of  the  city  frequently 
came  into  our  quarters  to  get  a  look  at  the  "Texas 
barbarians."  They  would  poke  us  up  from  our  lairs 
with  their  walking-sticks,  just  as  I  have  seen  the  beasts 
stirred  up  with  a  long  pole  in  a  menagerie,  now  and 
then  applying  some  such  remarks  to  us  as  "Carram- 
bo!  look  at  that  fellow's  teeth,  will  you!"  "Did  you 
ever  see  such  feet  and  hands?"  "Carrajo!  what  red 
hair  that  fellow's  got!  I  wonder  if  he  wouldn't  give 
me  a  lock  to  light  my  cigaros  with  ?"  "Cuidado !  don't 
go  too  near  that  chap  with  the  big  mouth  and  bushy 
beard;  he  has  a  ravenous  look!"  "I  wonder  when 
they  are  going  to  feed  them?  I  should  like  to  see  that 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  24 1 

cannibal  there  devour  five  or  six  pounds  of  raw  beef !" 
and  other  like  expressions. 

Some  time  in  March  the  Bexar  prisoners  were  re- 
leased, by  order  of  Santa  Ana,  and  furnished  with 
passports  to  go  home.  We  sincerely  rejoiced  in  their 
good  fortune,  but  our  own  lot  seemed  more  cheerless 
and  hopeless  than  ever  after  their  departure. 

Not  long  after  this,  sixteen  of  our  men  escaped 
from  one  of  the  dungeons  in  which  they  were  confined 
in  the  castle.  When  the  guard  entered  it  in  the  morn- 
ing, they  were  astonished  to  find  a  huge  black  hole 
burrowed  down  in  one  corner,  and  leading  down  be- 
neath the  foundations  of  the  castle  and  out  into  the 
moat  or  ditch  that  surrounded  it.  Most  of  these  men 
eventually  got  out  of  the  country  without  being  re- 
captured. 

For  a  long  time  after  the  escape  of  these  prisoners, 
we  were  much  more  strictly  guarded,  and  subjected  to 
harsher  treatment  than  had  previously  been  the  case. 

I  remained  at  Perote  from  some  time  in  November 
until  the  2 2d  day  of  August,  v/hen  I  was  liberated, 
together  with  five  or  six  others,  and  furnished  with 
passports  to  return  home.  The  balance  of  our  men 
were,  I  believe,  all  set  free  shortly  afterward. 

From  Perote  my  companions  and  myself  went  on  to 
Jalapa,  where  we  rested  for  a  day  or  two,  and  then 
took  the  road  to  Vera  Cruz. 

A  few  miles  beyond  Jalapa  we  were  stopped  by  a 
company  of  robbers  on  horseback  ( eleven  in  number) , 
who  demanded  our  money.  We  told  them  that  we  had 
been  prisoners  for  a  long  time,  and  had  just  been  liber- 
ated, and  of  course  we  were  not  particularly  flush  of 
funds.  The  one  who  seemed  to  have  command  of  the 


242  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

party  then  asked  me  if  we  were  Texans,  and  if  we  had 
passports.  I  told  him  we  were  Texans,  and  handed 
him  my  own  passport,  signed  by  Santa  Ana.  He 
looked  at  it  and  pronounced  it  all  right,  but  said  that 
Santa  Ana  was  a  scoundrel,  and  wished  to  know  why 
the  Texans  did  not  kill  him  when  they  had  him  in  their 
power.  I  told  him  if  I  had  had  the  keeping  of  him,  he 
never  would  have  troubled  Mexico  any  more. 

This  reply  appeared  to  tickle  them  amazingly,  and 
the  robber  chief  then  asked  me  to  what  place  we  were 
traveling.  I  told  him  to  Vera  Cruz,  and  he  said  they 
were  going  in  the  same  direction,  and  would  keep  us 
company  and  protect  us  from  any  further  molesta- 
tion on  the  way.  I  thought  to  myself  that  such  protec- 
tion as  they  would  be  likely  to  give  us  was  of  a  very 
questionable  character.  However,  we  traveled  along 
sociably  together  for  seven  or  eight  miles,  and  night 
coming  on,  they  turned  off  the  main  road  and  con- 
ducted us  to  a  large  ranch  or  hacienda,  that  appeared 
to  be  a  sort  of  rendezvous  for  gentlemen  of  their 
profession. 

The  inmates  of  this  ranch  seemed  to  be  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  robbers,  and  when  they  entered,  it 
was  "How  are  you,  colonel?"  and  "How  are  you, 
major?"  from  all  sides.  Titles  were  as  plentiful 
among  them  as  they  are  in  Texas  when  a  closely  con- 
tested election  is  about  to  come  off.  Here  an  excellent 
supper  was  soon  prepared,  and  we  were  cordially  in- 
vited to  partake  of  it.  Supper  ended,  a  variety  of 
fruits  and  some  excellent  wines  were  placed  upon  the 
table.  I  asked  the  robber  chief  if  that  was  their  usual 
style  of  living,  and  when  he  replied  that  it  was,  I  told 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  243 

him  if  there  was  any  vacancy  in  the  corps  I  should  like 
to  enlist. 

This  little  politic  speech  of  mine  appeared  to  please 
the  robbers  exceedingly,  and  they  drank  the  health  of 
the  "Gringo"  in  a  full  bumper. 

After  a  night  of  general  jollification,  the  next  morn- 
ing they  filled  our  haversacks  with  provisions,  gave  us 
half  a  dollar  apiece,  and  escorted  us  back  to  the  road„ 
where  they  bid  us  ''adios,"  with  many  expressions  of 
good  will.  I  told  the  boys  I  wished  the  robbers  would 
attack  us  every  day  in  the  same  way  these  had  done 
until  we  reached  Vera  Cruz. 

We  arrived  at  Vera  Cruz  without  the  happening  of 
any  further  incident  worth  mentioning.  A  few  days 
after  our  arrival  I  was  taken  with  the  "vomito,"  or 
yellow  fever,  and  came  very  near  "shuffling  off  this 
mortal  coil"  again.  When  I  recovered  sufficiently  to 
travel,  we  took  passage  on  a  vessel  bound  to  New 
Orleans,  where  we  landed  safely  about  the  24th  of 
September.  Just  as  our  vessel  (which  was  a  crazy  old 
hulk  and  totally  unseaworthy)  was  towed  over  the 
bar  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  a  tremendous 
hurricane  came  on,  which  would  assuredly  have  sent 
us  all  to  "Davy  Jones's  locker"  had  we  been  half  an 
hour  "behind  time."  In  a  few  days  I  took  passage  on 
a  steamer  for  Texas,  and  arrived  at  San  Antonio  in 
December  following,  after  an  absence  of  little  more 
than  two  years. 


CHAPTER  XL. 

Wallace  Hears  From  Virginia — Civilized  Compared  With  Un- 
civilized Life— He  Determines  to  Take  a  Trip  to  "The  Old 
States" — Lays  in  a  "Civilized"  Wardrobe — An  Old  Friend 
Finds  Him  Disguised  in  His  New  Clothes — Starts  on  His 
Journey — Wallace's  Opinion  of  the  Sea — At  New  Orleans, 
and  What  He  Saw  There. 

iOME  years  after  the  Mexican  war,  a  stranger 
stopped  at  my  "ranch"  one  night,  and  gave  me 
a  letter  which  he  said  the  postmaster  at  San 
Antonio  had  requested  him  to  deliver.  I  opened  it, 
and  found  that  it  was  from  one  of  my  relatives  in 
Virginia,  advising  me  to  come  on  there  at  once,  as  my 
presence  was  necessary  in  the  division  of  an  estate,  of 
which  I  was  one  of  the  heirs. 

I  had  never  been  back  to  the  "States"  since  I  left 
Virginia  in  1837,  and  made  up  my  mind  at  once  that 
I  would  go — not  so  much  for  the  purpose  of  securing 
what  property  I  might  be  entitled  to,  as  to  see  how 
people  managed  to  live  in  those  old  countries,  without 
the  excitement  of  an  occasional  Indian  fight,  or  a 
"scrimmage"  with  the  Mexicans,  or  even  a  "tussle" 
with  a  bear  now  and  then  to  keep  their  blood  in  circu- 
lation. I  thought  to  myself,  it  must  be  a  mighty  hum- 
drum sort  of  a  way  of  living,  but  I  suppose  custom 
enables  one  to  get  used  to  almost  anything.  The  hap- 
piest people  I  ever  saw  on  earth  were  the  Keechies, 
who  were  at  war  with  all  the  neighboring  tribes,  and 
ran  a  great  risk  of  having  their  hair  lifted,  even  when 
they  went  to  the  spring  for  a  drink  of  water. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  245 

I  don't  say  this  to  recommend  a  state  of  warfare, 
but  only  to  prove  that  people  can  get  used  to  almost 
everything  but  skinning.  I  once  saw  the  Keechies  skin 
some  of  their  prisoners  alive,  and  they  didn't  live 
twenty  minutes  afterward.  Nothing  can  survive  that 
operation  long,  except  a  snake. 

But,  to  come  back  to  my  story :  It  was  necessary, 
before  I  started  on  my  trip,  to  replenish  my  wardrobe, 
as  what  I  had  on  hand  wasn't  exactly  suitable  for  civil- 
ized countries.  Leather  hunting-shirts  and  leggings 
are  just  the  things  for  the  prairies  and  chaparral;  but 
I  had  a  sort  of  idea  they  wouldn't  be  considered  the 
''height  of  the  fashion"  by  the  people  of  the  "Old 
States." 

I  had  a  splendid  suit  of  buckskin  given  me  by  my 
old  friend  "Bah-pish-na-ba-hoo-tee"  (which  means 
"Little  blue  whistling  thunder"  in  the  Tonka wa  lan- 
guage), made  of  the  skins  of  the  "big-horn,"  and 
rigged  off  with  buffalo  tags  and  little  copper  bells,  that 
jingled  musically  as  I  walked  along;  and  when  I  was 
dressed  up  in  them,  and  had  my  coonskin  cap  on,  with 
its  tail  hanging  down  behind,  I  do  believe  there  wasn't 
a  young  woman  in  the  settlement  that  could  look  at  me 
with  impunity.  But  even  that,  I  concluded,  wouldn't 
be  exactly  the  thing  for  my  travels ;  so  the  next  day  I 
got  on  my  horse,  and  rode  into  San  Antonio,  to  supply 
myself  with  such  articles  as  I  required. 

A  city  friend,  who  was  posted  in  the  fashions,  went 
around  with  me  to  the  shops,  and  bought  for  me  such 
things  as  he  said  I  would  want — a  stove-pipe  hat,  and 
coat  and  pantaloons,  and  a  pair  of  patent-leather 
boots  that  were  as  slick  and  shiny  as  a  darkey's  face 


246  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

after  a  dinner  of  fat  'possum,  and  a  pair  of  gloves 
that  I  never  wore  but  once,  for  they  "choked"  my 
hands  so  that  they  made  me  short-winded.  He  bought 
me  also  a  number  of  other  little  traps,  combs,  brushes, 
etc.,  and  a  two-story  trunk  to  hold  them  all. 

A  day  or  two  after  I  had  made  my  purchases,  I 
thought  it  advisable  to  rig  myself  out  in  my  "toggery," 
so  as  to  get  a  little  used  to  their  "hang"  before  I 
started  on  my  journey.  I  squeezed  myself  into  a  pair 
of  pants  that  fitted  as  tight  as  candle-moulds,  and  into 
a  blue  coat  with  metal  buttons  that  was  tighter  still, 
and  which  split  from  stem  to  stern  the  first  time  I 
sneezed,  and  finally  forced  my  feet  into  the  shiny 
boots,  without  bursting  either  them  or  a  blood- 
vessel, which  was  the  greatest  wonder  of  all. 

When  I  had  rigged  myself  out  from  head  to  foot, 
I  felt  as  I  suppose  a  man  would  feel  who  had  a  layer 
of  "daubin"  plastered  over  him,  that  had  hardened  in 
the  sun.  I  couldn't  bend  my  knees,  nor  crook  my 
elbows;  couldn't  do  anything  except  sit  bolt  upright 
in  a  chair,  with  my  legs  straight  out  before  me.  Even 
when  I  smiled  at  the  ridiculous  figure  I  cut,  no  matter 
how  faintly  or  sweetly,  I  could  hear  a  seam  crack 
somewhere.  If  the  shanty  had  caught  fire  just  then,  I 
would  have  been  roasted  to  a  certainty,  before  I  could 
have  made  my  retreat. 

It  so  happened  that  while  I  was  "trussed  up"  in  that 
style,  a  fellow  with  whom  I  had  a  slight  acquaintance 
came  in  to  see  me  about  buying  a  horse.  I  asked  him 
to  take  a  seat,  which  he  did,  all  the  time  staring  at  me 
in  a  way  that  convinced  me  he  didn't  know  me.  At 
length  he  inquired  if  "Big-Foot"  was  at  home.     I 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  247 

laughed  outright,  at  the  expense  of  two  buttons  and  a 
rent  in  my  pants,  and  he  then  recognized  me  at  once. 
"Why,  'Big-Foot',"  he  said,  "what  do  you  mean  by 
disguising  yourself  in  that  way?  Are  you  crazy,  or 
are  you  going  a-courting?" 

"Neither,"  I  replied.  "I  am  tired  of  tending  stock, 
and  fighting  Indians,  and  intend  to  play  the  gentleman 
awhile,  and  as  a  commencement  of  my  new  career,  I 
have  bought  this  suit  of  'store  clothes'  on  tick,  which 
I  am  trying  on  to  see  how  I  feel  in  them.  Though  my 
education  has  been  considerably  neglected  in  these 
backwoods,  just  as  soon  as  I  can  learn  to  play  poker 
and  cut-throat  loo,  swear  like  a  trooper,  and  can  run 
off  with  some  man's  wife,  I  have  some  hopes  the  fra- 
ternity will  admit  me  as  a  member.  It  is  true  I  haven't 
killed  a  man  as  yet  in  a  duel,  but  I  have  'got'  'severial' 
in  fights  with  the  enemies  of  my  country,  and  perhaps 
they  will  consider  that  a  fair  offset.  What  do  you 
think?" 

My  friend  said  he  had  no  doubt  I  would  do  with  a 
little  training,  and  asked  me  when  I  proposed  to  make 
a  start  in  my  new  line  of  business. 

"I  am  off  in  the  morning,"  said  I.  "I  have  just  five 
hundred  dollars  in  my  pocket,  and  when  I  have  got 
through  with  that  and  my  'inheritance,'  I  shall  come 
back  to  my  ranch  here,  put  on  my  old  buckskins,  and 
run  after  stock  and  fight  Indians  for  a  livelihood  the 
balance  of  my  life." 

My  friend  bid  me  good-by,  and  the  next  morning, 
leaving  my  "ranch"  in  the  care  of  my  old  compadre, 
Jeff  Bond,  I  went  into  San  Antonio,  and  took  the  stage 
for  Indianola.   There  I  got  on  board  a  steamer  that 


248  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

was  just  ready  to  start,  and  in  two  or  three  hours  we 
were  rolling  and  tossing  on  the  Gulf. 

Anybody  can  have  my  share  of  the  sea  that  wants  it. 
I  had  rather  have  ten  acres  of  the  poorest  ground  in 
Texas  than  the  whole  Gulf  of  Mexico.  I  want  some- 
thing solid  under  me,  and  not  miles  of  slippery,  sloshy 
water,  that  is  forever  heaving  and  setting,  and  swell- 
ing, and  sinking,  and  sliding  and  slipping  from  under 
a  fellow,  until  his  head  grows  dizzy,  and  his  stomach 
is  turned  inside-out. 

I  am  very  fond  of  oysters,  and  ate  about  a  peck  of 
'em  raw,  and  four  or  five  dozen  fried,  for  dinner,  just 
before  I  left  Indianola;  but  I  returned  them  all  to 
their  native  element  as  soon  as  we  got  over  the  bar. 
How  the  sailors  manage  to  live  for  six  or  seven 
months  at  sea,  without  ever  seeing  land,  is  a  wonder 
to  me.  Two  days  were  enough  for  me,  and  I  was 
truly  glad  when  at  the  end  of  that  time  I  found  myself 
on  the  "levee"  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans. 

What  a  sudden  change  from  the  quietness  and  soli- 
tude of  the  little  "ranch"  on  the  borders  of  Texas, 
where  I  had  lived  so  long,  to  the  noise  and  bustle  of  a 
big  city  like  New  Orleans !  I  put  on  my  "sombrero," 
for  I  had  thrown  away  the  "stove-pipe"  as  a  useless 
concern  (I  would  as  soon  wear  a  Dutch-oven  on  the 
top  of  my  head) ,  and  walked  out  to  see  the  sights  and 
lions  of  the  city.  Everything  was  new  and  strange  to 
me  I  The  clatter  of  the  hundreds  of  drays  and  omni- 
buses, tearing  through  the  streets;  the  piles  of  mer- 
chandise and  cotton-bales  heaped  up  along  the  levee ; 
the  long  line  of  steamers  and  vessels  moored  side  by 
side,  and  loaded  with  the  productions  of  every  quarter 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  249 

of  the  globe ;  the  eager  crowds  rushing  here  and  there, 
as  if  life  and  death  depended  on  their  reaching  some 
particular  spot  at  a  certain  minute — and  maybe  in 
some  cases  they  did,  for  the  "police"  were  in  full 
chase  after  some  of  them — and  the  many  foreign  lan- 
guages that  I  heard  on  all  sides,  Dutch,  French,  Span- 
ish, Irish,  etc.,  all  brought  forcibly  to  my  mind  the 
fact  that  I  had  got  a  long  ways  from  the  prairies  and 
chaparrals  of  Texas. 

At  the  corner  of  one  of  the  streets  I  stopped  to  look 
at  a  foreigner  of  some  sort,  who  was  turning  a  crank 
fixed  in  a  hollow  box,  by  which  he  ground  out  occa- 
sionally a  pretty  fair  tune,  but  with  a  sort  of  drone  to 
it,  like  the  Methodist  hymns  that  are  sung  at  camp- 
meetin's  when  the  weather  is  damp  and  everybody  has 
got  bad  colds.  On  top  of  the  box  a  monkey  sat,  mak- 
ing faces  at  the  crowd,  and  poking  the  nuts  and  cakes 
into  his  mouth,  which  were  now  and  then  thrown  to 
him  by  the  boys.  By  the  side  of  the  man  stood  a  little 
girl  dressed  in  a  faded,  seedy-looking  muslin  gown, 
and  beating  on  a  wide  hoop  covered  with  a  piece  of 
dried  deerskin,  and  hung  round  with  little  metal  plates 
about  the  size  of  those  the  Indians  usually  wear  in  the 
nose.  They  all  had  a  melancholy  and  j  aded  look  ( even 
the  monkey,  except  when  he  cracked  a  nut) ,  especially 
the  poor  little  girl,  who  beat  on  the  hoop  with  the 
jangles  in  a  mechanical  sort  of  way,  as  if  she  was 
heartily  sick  and  tired  of  the  whole  concern — and  no 
wonder.  I  felt  sorry  for  her,  and  slipped  a  new  fifty- 
cent  piece  into  her  hand;  but  the  man  with  the  box 
saw  me  do  it,  and  it  enlivened  him  so  that  he  gave  the 
thing  another  screw,  and  ground  out  "Hail,  Colum- 


250  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

bia"  about  as  easy  as  I  could  grind  a  peck  of  hominy 
on  a  steel  mill. 

Just  then  a  tolerable  genteel-looking  chap,  who  had 
been  watching  me  for  some  time,  stepped  up  and  re- 
quested a  word  with  me  in  private.  We  went  a  little 
way  off  to  ourselves,  when  he  told  me  that  he  was  a 
stranger  in  the  city  (left  there  by  some  accident,  I  have 
forgotten  now  what),  and  that  he  was  entirely  with- 
out money,  and  had  not  eaten  a  bite  for  more  than 
two  days ;  and  if  I  would  only  give  him  fifty  cents  for  a 
gold  ring,  which  he  fished  out  of  his  pocket,  I  would 
be  doing  him  a  great  favor.  I  told  him  we  didn't 
consider  a  two  days'  fast,  on  the  prairies  of  Texas,  a 
thing  of  much  consequence  (and,  really,  he  didn't 
seem  to  be  much  the  worse  for  it  himself),  but  that  if 
he  was  in  want  of  something  to  eat,  I  would  freely  give 
him  the  fifty  cents,  as  I  did  not  want  the  ring,  never 
having  worn  one  in  my  life,  except  a  large  copper  one 
in  my  nose,  out  of  compliment  to  my  friends  the 
Lipans,  when  I  was  on  a  visit  to  the  tribe.  The  fellow, 
however,  generously  insisted  on  my  taking  the  ring, 
and  actually  forced  it  on  one  of  my  fingers,  and  as  he 
did  so,  he  remarked  that  it  was  well  worth  five  dol- 
lars. It  may  have  been  worth  five  dollars  in  some 
markets,  where  brass  was  exceedingly  scarce,  but  in 
New  Orleans  they  sell  a  better  quality  at  about  three 
cents  a  dozen,  for  window  curtains.  However,  the 
fellow  left  me  with  many  thanks,  and  in  a  few  mo- 
ments I  saw  him  go  into  a  "saloon,"  where  drinkables 
on  the  "tangle-leg"  and  "bust-head"  order  were  sold 
at  five  cents  a  glass  to  flat-boat-men  and  men  of  that 
stripe.   Two  or  three  hours  afterward  I  found  him 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  25  I 

lying  dead-drunk  in  a  gutter,  and  it  occurred  to  me 
that  perhaps  he  had  mistaken  his  case — that  he  had 
been  two  days  without  drinking  instead  of  without 
eating.  However,  I  kept  the  ring  as  a  memento  of  the 
poor  fellow,  and  have  got  it  yet,  though  it  is  now  cov- 
ered with  verdigris,  and  smells  louder  than  an  old 
brass  candlestick. 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

Wallace  Goes  to  the  Theatre — His  Opinion  of  "Play-Actors" — 
The  Dancing  Woman — Wallace  Gets  Excited — The  St. 
Charles  "Tavern" — How  He  Registered  His  Name — Wallace 
Is  Afraid  of  a  Fire — He  Breakfasts  at  the  St.  Charles,  and 
Gets  Up  an  Excitement — The  Bill  of  Fare — Fried  Bullfrogs. 

IN  the  evening  I  went  to  the  theatre,  and  saw  a  play 
acted  for  the  first  time  in  my  life.  One  or  two  of 
the  actors  I  thought  performed  pretty  well,  but 
the  most  of  them  stormed  and  blustered  out  of  all 
reason.  When  a  man  is  in  earnest  he  don't  generally 
say  much.  Once  two  fellows  that  were  after  the  same 
young  woman  came  out  on  the  stage  and  had  a  regular 
"set-to"  with  their  swords.  Twenty  times  a  minute 
exactly  they  hit  their  swords  together,  first  on  one 
side,  then  on  the  other,  and  never  drew  a  drop  of 
blood.  It  was  the  poorest  attempt  at  a  fight  I  ever 
saw,  and  when  at  last  one  of  them  quit  cutting  the 
other's  sword,  and  stuck  his  own  through  his  body,  I 
thought  he  might  just  as  well  have  done  it  at  the  start 
— there  was  nothing  to  hinder  him  that  I  could  see. 
I'll  bet  a  gallon  of  "bear's  ile"  I  could  have  given  the 
Tonkawa  war-whoop,  jumped  on  the  stage,  and 
cleaned  them  both  out  in  two  minutes  with  "Old 
Butch,"  with  "ease  and  elegance."  If  play-actors  gen- 
erally don't  know  anything  more  about  fighting  than 
these  did,  they  ought  to  come  out  to  Texas  and  attend 
the  polls  during  an  exciting  election,  and  they  would 
learn  more  about  it  in  a  week  than  they  could  on  the 
stage  in  forty  years.     It  wouldn't  be  click !  click !  as 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  253 

regular  as  the  ticking  of  a  wooden  clock,  and  nothing 
done  for  half  an  hour,  but  it  would  be  "pop"  here,  and 
over  he  goes — "bang"  there,  and  down  he  drops;  and 
in  less  time  than  it  takes  me  to  tell  it,  the  whole  green 
would  be  covered  with  "bits  of  skull  and  tufts  of 
hair,"  and  as  red  with  blood  as  a  slaughter-pen. 

Between  two  parts  of  the  play,  a  young  woman 
came  out  on  the  stage  and  made  a  low  bow  to  the 
people,  who  yelled  and  shouted  as  if  she  had  done 
something  extra.  Her  dress  was  very  low  above,  and 
very  high  below,  and  a  very  scanty  pattern  in  the 
middle,  and  so  thin,  if  it  hadn't  been  for  the  spangles 
on  it,  you  wouldn't  have  suspected  she  had  on  any 
dress  at  all.  When  the  people  kept  on  yelling  and 
shouting  ever  so  long,  she  brought  a  whirl  on  the  tip 
of  one  toe,  and  made  another  bow  so  low  that  the  hem 
of  her  dress  almost  touched  the  floor,  and  as  she 
straightened  up  she  stuck  one  foot  straight  out  before 
her,  and  "pinted"  it  right  at  me,  and  kept  on  "pint- 
ing"  it  so  long,  that  although  I'm  not  generally  a  very 
bashful  man,  I  rather  caved  in  and  drew  my  sombrero 
over  my  face.  All  at  once  she  made  another  whirl  and 
brought  the  straight  foot  down  against  the  other  with 
a  slap,  and  at  it  she  went  in  earnest — cross  over,  right 
and  left,  heel  and  toe,  backward  and  forward,  "likety- 
clicket,"  up  one  side  and  down  the  other,  till  it  almost 
made  a  fellow  feel  dizzy  to  watch  her  little  feet  shuf- 
fling in  and  out  so  fast,  that  you  could  only  see  them 
now  and  then  when  the  bottoms  were  turned  up  to- 
ward you. 

I  thought  I  had  seen  pretty  fair  dancers  among  the 
Mexican  senoritas,  but  none  of  them  could  hold  a 
candle  for  that  young  woman.   At  last  she  brought 


254  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

another  whirl  on  the  tip  of  her  toe,  made  another  low 
bow,  and  as  she  rose  stuck  her  foot  out  again,  and 
"pinted"  it  right  at  me.  The  people  yelled  louder  than 
ever  at  this,  and  threw  bouquets  and  half-dollars  on 
the  stage  till  the  floor  was  almost  covered. 

By  this  time,  I  had  got  considerably  excited  myself, 
and  as  I  had  no  bouquets  or  money  about  me,  I  threw 
her  everything  I  had  in  my  pockets,  among  which  was 
a  plug  of  tobacco  about  a  foot  long,  three  New  York 
pippins,  and  my  coarse  comb ;  and  not  feeling  entirely 
relieved  by  that,  I  jumped  up  on  the  seat  and  gave  the 
Tonkawa  war-whoop  till  the  rafters  of  the  house 
fairly  shook  again.  There  was  a  dead  silence  at  once. 
The  young  woman  looked  frightened  and  skipped  off 
the  stage,  an  everybody  started  at  me.  Then,  such  an- 
other hurrah  began  as  you  never  heard,  some  holler- 
ing "Encore !  encore !"  and  others,  "Put  him  out — ^put 
him  out!"  but  just  then  the  little  bell  tinkled  and  the 
curtain  was  hoisted,  and  the  play  commenced  again. 

At  last  it  all  came  to  an  end,  and  the  young  man 
married  the  young  woman  he  had  been  courting  so 
long;  an  old  uncle  of  his  fortunately  "pegged  out" 
about  that  time,  and  left  him  a  power  of  money,  and 
everything  else  wound  up  and  "dovetailed  In"  in  the 
luckiest  way  for  the  happy  pair. 

As  soon  as  the  play  was  over,  I  went  to  the  St. 
Charles  tavern,  to  hunt  up  quarters  for  the  night,  as 
I  had  been  told  it  was  the  best  in  the  city,  and  I  was 
determined  to  have  the  best  of  everything  going  while 
I  was  on  my  travels.  Some  one  had  pointed  the  tavern 
out  to  me  In  the  daytime,  and  as  it  was  but  a  little  way 
off,  I  soon  came  to  it,  and  went  up  the  broad  steps  in 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  255 

front,  and  then  into  a  room  where  several  men  were 
putting  their  names  down  In  a  book. 

I  asked  a  fellow  standing  behind  the  railing  at  a 
desk,  if  the  landlord  was  in,  as  I  wanted  to  see  him. 
He  laughed  a  little,  though  I  didn't  see  anything  funny 
in  the  question,  and  told  me  the  landlord  was  out  just 
then,  but  that  he  would  attend  to  any  business  I  might 
have  with  him.  I  told  him  all  I  wanted  was  a  room 
to  sleep  In,  and  as  much  **grub"  as  I  could  eat  as  long 
as  I  staid  in  New  Orleans. 

"Certainly,"  said  he,  **you  can  be  accommodated. 
Will  you  please  register  your  name?" 

I  took  the  pen  and  wrote  down  *'Big-Foot  Wallace" 
in  the  first  column,  *'Buffalo-Bull  Ranch,  Texas,"  in 
the  second,  and  "Old  Virglnny"  in  the  third.  Then 
the  clerk,  or  whoever  he  was,  struck  something  that 
sounded  like  a  clock,  and  a  fellow  jumped  up  from  the 
corner  of  the  room,  and  came  up  to  where  we  were. 

"Show  this  gentleman  to  No.  395,"  and  he  handed 
the  waiter  a  little  piece  of  candle  that  didn't  look  to 
me  nigh  long  enough  to  last  us  through  three  hundred 
and  nity-five  rooms.  But  the  whole  tavern  was  lighted 
up  with  little  brass  knobs,  that  made  every  place  as 
bright  as  day. 

The  waiter  took  me  up  one  pair  of  stairs,  and  then 
up  another  and  another,  until  I  thought  I  was  in  a  Hit 
way  to  get  to  heaven  at  last,  providing  my  breath 
didn't  fail  me.  We  then  wound  about  through  half  a 
dozen  lanes  and  alleys,  until  at  last  we  came  to  No. 
395.  The  waiter  unlocked  the  door,  lit  my  candle, 
and  told  me  good  night. 

"Stop  a  minute,  my  friend,"  said  I;  "if  this  tavern 


256  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

should  catch  fire  to-night,  how  am  I  to  find  my  way 
back  again  to  where  we  started  from? 

"Oh,"  said  he,  "there's  no  danger  of  fire,  for  it  is 
all  built  of  rock  I  and  besides,  it's  insured." 

"Devil  trust  it,"  said  I,  "with  that  gas  stuff  burning 
all  over  it.  If  it  can  set  fire  to  a  brass  knob,  why  can't 
it  burn  a  rock,  too?  I'd  rather  trust  myself  in  a  dry 
prairie,  with  a  stiff  *norther'  blowing,  and  the  grass 
waist  high,  and  hostile  Indians  all  around :  my  chances 
of  being  roasted  alive  wouldn't  be  half  as  good  as 
they  are  up  here  in  No.  395  ;  and  besides,"  said  I,  "I'm 
not  insured!" 

"Well,"  said  he,  "if  the  house  catches  fire,  all 
you've  got  to  do  is  to  pull  that  string  hanging  down 
there  with  the  tassel  on  the  end  of  it,  which  rings  a 
bell,  and  I'll  come  up  and  show  you  the  road  down." 

"Look  here,  my  friend,"  said  I,  "you  can't  satisfy 
me  in  that  way.  This  is  room  395,  and  I  suppose 
there's  at  least  395  more  of  'em,  and  when  790  bells 
are  all  ringing  at  the  same  time,  how  are  you  going  to 
tell  which  one  is  mine  ?  You  might  as  well  try  to  tell 
the  bellowing  of  a  particular  buffalo-bull  in  a  gang  of 
ten  thousand.  No,  sir;  you  stay  up  here  with  me,  and 
when  the  row  commences,  if  you  are  lucky  enough 
to  find  your  way  down,  I  won't  be  far  behind  you." 

"Well,"  said  he,  "when  my  watch  is  up,  which  will 
be  in  about  half  an  hour,  I'll  come  back." 

"  'Nough  said,"  I  replied,  "and  I'll  stand  treat  in 
the  morning." 

So  I  turned  into  bed,  and  in  five  minutes  was  fast; 
asleep.  I  never  knew  whether  the  fellow  came  back] 
or  not,  but  I  suppose  he  did,  for  he  claimed  the  "treat'*] 
off  me  the  first  thing  in  the  morning.    I  gave  him  a 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  257 

brand-new  fifty-cent  piece,  and  he  said  he'd  like  to 
take  the  job  by  the  week  at  half  the  price :  so  I  engaged 
him  regularly  at  twenty-five  cents  a  night,  and  con- 
sidered it  dirt-cheap  at  that. 

I  made  an  early  start  in  the  morning,  for  I  knew  I 
had  a  crooked  way  to  travel  and  a  dim  trail  to  follow ; 
and  about  9  o'clock  I  found  myself  in  the  room  where 
I  had  registered  my  name  the  night  before,  and  feel- 
ing considerably  snappish  after  my  long  tramp. 

I  inquired  of  one  of  the  porters  sitting  there,  how 
long  it  was  till  breakfast.  He  said  any  time  I  wanted 
it,  and  showed  me  the  way  into  the  breakfast-room. 
It  was  almost  as  large  as  a  small  prairie,  and,  instead 
of  one  long  table,  as  we  have  in  our  taverns  at  home, 
there  were  at  least  forty  or  fifty  little  round  ones  scat- 
tered about  all  over  it. 

Being  of  rather  a  social  disposition,  although  I 
have  lived  so  much  in  the  woods  by  myself,  and  seeing 
a  tolerably  jovial  little  party  of  ladies  and  gentlemen 
sitting  around  one  of  these  tables,  I  walked  up  and 
took  a  seat  with  them.  I  saw  in  a  minute  I  wasn't 
welcome,  for  the  gentlemen  looked  as  ill-natured  as  a 
sulky  bull,  and  the  ladies  all  tittered ;  but  I  pretended 
not  to  notice  it,  and  called  to  one  of  the  waiters  who 
was  running  round,  to  bring  me  a  pound  or  so  of 
beefsteak  and  the  ''condiments." 

At  this,  one  of  the  men  spoke  up,  and  said  "he  pre- 
sumed I  was  under  a  mistake,  as  that  was  a  private 
table." 

**Yes,  sir,"  said  I,  "I  am.  I  presumed  you  were 
gentlemen;  and  as  to  this  being  a  private  table,  all  I 
have  to  say  is,  it's  the  first  one  I  ever  saw  in  a  'public 
house.'  However,"  I  continued,  "I've  no  wish  to  force 


258  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

my  company  where  it  isn't  wanted,"  and  I  got  up  and 
took  a  seat  at  another  table. 

If  a  man  had  spoken  to  me  at  a  tavern  in  Texas  the 
way  that  chap  did,  I  would  have  introduced  him  to 
"Old  Butch"  at  once ;  but  thinks  I,  maybe  things  are 
different  here,  and  I  bothered  myself  no  more  about  it. 

There  was  nothing  to  eat  on  the  table  where  I  had 
taken  a  seat  but  a  plate  of  butter  and  a  bowl  of  sugar ; 
but  in  a  minute  or  so  a  waiter  stepped  up  and  handed 
me  a  paper.  I  took  it,  folded  it  up,  and  laid  it  on  the 
table. 

"My  friend,"  says  I,  "I'm  'remarkable'  hungry  just 
now,  and  I'll  read  that  after  I  get  something  to  eat,  if 
you  say  there's  anything  special  in  it." 

After  a  little  while  he  says,  "What'll  you  have  for 
breakfast,  sir?" 

"Well,"  I  answered,  "anything  that's  fat  and  juicy. 
What  have  you  got  cooked?" 

"If  you'll  read  the  'bill  of  fare,'  "  says  he,  "you  can 
sec  for  yourself." 

"Well!  let's  have  it,"  said  I. 

"That's  it  you  have  just  folded  up  and  laid  on  the 
table  there,"  he  replied. 

"Oh,  yes,"  said  I.  "I  understand  now;"  and  I 
picked  it  up,  and  the  first  thing  I  saw  on  it  was  *Cafe 
an  lait/  "and  it's  late  enough  too,  for  it>  heaven 
knows,"  said  I;  "for  I  am  used  to  taking  a  quart  cup 
every  morning  just  at  daybreak!" 

"What  else?"  said  the  waiter,  and  I  read  on: 

"Pi/(?  de  fois  gras** — some  sort  of  yerbs,  thought  I, 
and  I  never  went  high  on  greens,  especially  for  break- 
fast. I  found  most  of  the  names  of  the  things  on  the 
*bill  of  fare'  were  French,  or  some  other  foreign 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  259 

lingo,  and  they  were  all  Greek  to  me ;  but,  to  make  the 
waiter  believe  I  knew  very  well  what  they  were,  only 
I  wasn't  partial  to  their  sort  of  "grub,"  I  told  him  to 
bring  me  some  '^crapeau  fricassee"  and  "gumbo  filet," 
and  I  wish  I  may  never  take  another  "chaw"  of 
tobacco  if  he  did  not  bring  me  a  plateful  of  fried  bull- 
frogs' legs,  and  another  full  of  their  spawn,  just  the 
same  sort  of  slimy,  ropy  stuff  you  see  around  the  edges 
of  shallow  ponds.  I  might  have  known  that  every- 
thing French  had  frog  in  it  in  some  shape  or  other, 
just  as  certain  as  "Chili  pepper"  is  found  in  every- 
thing the  Mexicans  cook.  However,  I  made  out  a 
tolerable  breakfast  on  other  things,  but  would  have 
been  much  better  satisfied  if  I  could  have  had  four  or 
five  pounds  of  roasted  buffalo-meat  and  a  '^marrow 
gut:' 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

Wallace  Meets  with  an  Adventure — Goes  to  a  Quadroon  Ball, 
and  Teaches  Them  "The  Stampede"— Wallace  Takes  a 
"White  Lion,"  and  Pays  for  It— Has  His  Fortune  Told— 
What  Followed. 

A  FTER  breakfast,  I  loaded  my  pipe  and  took  a 
/=^k  seat  on  the  front  porch,  with  my  legs  hoisted 
-A_  )\  up  on  the  iron  railings,  and  while  I  was  sitting 
there  puffing  away,  as  comfortable  as  an  old  sow  in  a 
mud-hole  on  a  hot  day,  a  young  woman  came  along  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  street,  and  stopped  awhile  to 
look  at  some  pictures  in  a  window.  Presently  she 
looked  up  and  beckoned  me  to  come  to  her !  I  couldn't 
believe  my  eyes  at  first,  but  she  kept  on  motioning  her 
hand  to  me  until  I  knew  there  was  no  mistake  about  it. 
I  thought  maybe  she  takes  me  for  some  acquaint- 
ance of  hers,  and  I'll  go  down  and  let  her  know  she  is 
on  the  wrong  trail,  just  to  see  how  foolish  she  will 
look  when  she  finds  she  has  been  making  so  familiar 
with  a  stranger.  So  I  went  down  the  steps  and  crossed 
over  to  where  she  was  standing.  When  I  got  up  close 
to  her  I  noticed  that  her  dress  didn't  look  overly  neat, 
and  that  her  eyes  were  as  red  as  if  she  had  been  on  a 
burst  for  the  last  week.  I  made  her  a  polite  bow,  how- 
ever, and  remarked  that  I  suppose  she  was  mistaken ; 
but  before  I  could  finish  my  speech,  which  I  had  "cut 
and  dried,"  like  the  politicians,  she  ran  up  to  me  and 
grabbed  me  by  the  hand. 

"Oh,  bosh!"  said  she,  "not  a  bit  of  it:  you  are  the 
hardest  fellow  to  take  a  hint  I  ever  saw.  I've  been 
beckoning  to  you  for  the  last  half  hour.   Come  along, 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  26 1 

Johnny  Green,  I  want  to  introduce  you  to  some  par- 
ticular friends  of  mine." 

"My  name  ain't  Johnny  Green,"  said  I,  trying  to 
get  my  hand  loose  from  her ;  but  she  held  on  to  it  like 
a  vise. 

"Oh !  never  mind  that,"  said  she ;  "come  along  with 
me,  and  we'll  have  a  jolly  time  of  it." 

Thinks  I,  if  you  ain't  a  brazen  piece  I  never  saw 
one ;  for  all  the  time  she  was  talking  she  kept  dragging 
me  on,  though  there  were  half  a  dozen  fellows  on  the 
stoop  of  the  tavern,  killing  themselves  laughing  at  us. 
This  made  me  desperate,  and  I  jerked  my  hand  away 
by  main  force,  though  I  hated  to  serve  anything  like 
a  woman  in  such  a  rough  way. 

"Won't  you  go?"  said  she. 

"No,"  said  I,  "not  just  now;  I  haven't  time." 

"Well,"  she  answered,  "if  you  won't  go,  I  reckon 
you  won't  refuse  to  'treat'." 

"Certainly  not,"  said  I.  "What'U  you  take — a 
lemonade,  or  an  ice-cream?" 

"To  the  old  boy,"  said  she,  "with  your  lemonades 
and  ice-cream !  I'll  take  a  glass  of  brandy  with  a  little 
schnapps  in  it." 

"There,"  said  I,  and  I  threw  her  a  slick  quarter; 
"that'll  buy  you  one;"  and  I  turned  on  my  heel  and 
made  tracks  for  the  tavern  as  fast  as  I  could. 

Geminy!  what  a  "cussin'  "  she  gave  me  as  I  went! 
I  thought  I  had  heard  the  rangers  on  the  frontiers  of 
Texas  make  use  of  pretty  hard  language,  but  they 
couldn't  hold  a  candle  to  that  young  woman.  The 
farther  I  went  the  louder  she  "cussed,"  and  I  never 
got  out  of  hearing  of  her  until  I  found  my  way  at  last 


262  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

up  to  395,  where  I  bolted  myself  in,  and  never  came 
out  till  dinner-time. 

After  supper,  I  fixed  up  a  little,  slicked  down  my 
hair  with  about  a  pint  of  bear's  grease  (some  of  my 
own  killing),  and  went  off  to  a  "Quadroon  Ball"  in 
the  French  part  of  the  city,  for  I  was  determined  to 
see  a  little  of  everything  going.  Just  as  I  entered  the 
door  of  the  house  where  the  ball  was  given,  a  man 
stopped  me  and  told  me  I  would  have  to  be  searched 
before  I  could  enter! 

"What  for?"  said  I;  "anything  been  stolen  about 
here?" 

"No,"  said  he;  "but  if  youVe  got  any  weapons 
about  you,  you  must  give  'em  up  to  me  before  you  can 
go  in,  and  I  will  be  responsible  for  them." 

"Well,"  said  I,  "the  truth  is,  I  am  partially 
'heeled',"  and  I  handed  him  out  a  pair  of  Derringers 
and  'Old  Butch.' 

"I  don't  care  so  much  about  the  Derringers,"  said 
I,  "but  take  good  care  of  'Old  Butch,'  for  I  have  a 
sort  of  affection  for  him,  on  account  of  the  many 
scrapes  he  has  helped  me  out  of,  and  the  amount  of 
hair  I  have  lifted  from  the  heads  of  Indians  with  it." 

The  doorkeeper  looked  at  me  and  then  at  'Old 
Butch,'  as  if  he  didn't  know  what  to  make  of  either 
of  us  exactly;  but  he  took  the  weapons,  and  told  me  I 
could  have  'em  when  I  left;  and  said  he,  "If  you  have 
any  money  about  you  of  account,  you  had  better  leave 
it  with  me ;  else  you  mayn't  be  able  to  put  your  hand 
on  it  when  you  want  it." 

"I've  only  a  few  Mexican  dollars  in  my  pocket,"  I 
answered,  "and  if  anybody  can  get  them,  they  are 
welcome  to  them." 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  263 

"Very  well,"  said  he,  you  can  go  In." 

So  I  went  up  a  pair  of  stairs,  and  into  a  long  room 
filled  with  people,  and  lighted  up  as  bright  as  a  prairie 
on  fire  with  gas-knobs.  'Most  everybody  had  masks 
on,  so  you  couldn't  tell  who  they  were,  but  that  made 
no  difference  to  me,  for,  of  course,  all  there  were 
strangers  to  me. 

There  were  two  or  three  sets  on  the  floor  dancing, 
besides  a  great  many  little  squads  scattered  all  about, 
laughing  and  talking,  and  making  fun  of  themselves 
and  everybody  else.  I  sauntered  about  among  'em  for 
some  time,  amusing  myself  with  looking  on  as  well  as 
I  could.  I  had  begun  to  get  rather  tired  of  the  con- 
cern, as  I  had  no  one  to  dance  with,  when  a  genteel- 
looking  chap  with  a  parrot-bill  mask  on,  came  up  to 
me,  and  said  "he  presumed  I  was  a  stranger  in  the 
city." 

I  told  him  he  had  hit  the  nail  on  the  head  exactly. 

"And  how  do  you  like  our  little  fandango?"  he 
asked. 

"Oh !  very  well,"  said  I ;  "but  I  see  you  haven't  yet 
introduced  the  Texas  national  dance  —  the  Stam- 
pede." 

"No,"  said  he;  "have  never  heard  of  it  before. 
Wouldn't  you  be  kind  enough  to  describe  it  to  me,  and 
I'll  introduce  it  immediately;  we  are  very  much  in 
want  of  something  new  just  now." 

"Of  course,"  said  I,  "if  you  wish  me.  The  'Stam- 
pede' is  danced  in  this  way:  The  ladies  range  them- 
selves on  one  side  of  the  room,  and  the  gentlemen  on 
the  other.  Then  one  of  the  gentlemen  neighs,  and  if 
a  lady  Vhinnies'  in  answer,  they  both  step  forward, 
and  become  partners  for  the  dance.    If  the  gentleman 


264  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

is  very  homely,  and,  after  neighing  three  times,  no 
lady  should  answer,  he  steps  out  of  the  Ving,'  and 
hopes  for  better  luck  next  time. 

"When  the  couples  are  all  paired  off  in  this  way, 
the  manager  calls  out,  'Gallopade  all,'  and  all  Hope' 
around  the  room  briskly  three  or  four  times.  Then 
the  gentlemen  'curvet'  to  their  partners,  and  the  ladies 
coquettishly  back  their  ears  and  kick  up  at  the  gentle- 
men. Then  the  ladies  canter  up  to  the  gentlemen,  who 
rear  and  plunge  for  a  while,  then  seize  the  ladies' 
hands,  and  pace  gracefully  off  in  couples  around  the 
room.  First  couple  then  wheel  and  go  off  at  a  two- 
forty  lick,  second  couple  ditto,  and  so  on  till  the  race 
becomes  general,  when  the  manager  calls  out  'Whoa  !' 
and  everybody  comes  to  a  sudden  halt.  The  manager 
the  calls  out,  'Walk  your  partners' ;  'pace  your  part- 
ners' ;  'trot  your  partners' ;  and  'gallopade  all'  again, 
faster  and  faster,  until  the 'sprained'  and  'wind-galled' 
and  'short  stock'  begin  to  'cave  in,'  when  he  calls  out 
'Boo!'  and  throws  his  hat  in  the  'ring.'  A  general 
'stampede'  follows ;  the  gentlemen  neigh,  curvet,  and 
pitch ;  the  ladies  whinny,  prance,  and  kick,  chairs  and 
tables  are  knocked  over,  lights  blown  out,  and  every- 
body tumbles  over  everybody  else,  till  the  whole  set  is 
piled  up  in  the  middle  of  the  room;  and  so  the  dance 
ends." 

"By  jingo,"  said  my  new  friend,  grabbing  my  hand, 
"it's  glorious!  It's  the  very  thing  for  this  latitude, 
and  will  create  a  sensation,  you  may  depend.  I'll 
introduce  the  'Stampede'  this  very  night." 

"Very  well,"  said  I ;  "but  you  had  better  wait  till  it's 
time  to  go  home,  for,  generally,  things  are  smashed 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  265 

up  SO  after  the  'Stampede,'  that  it's  hard  to  get  the 
ball  going  again." 

My  new  friend  and  myself  soon  got  pretty  thick 
with  each  other,  and  before  I  suspected  what  he  was 
up  to,  he  had  pumped  me  dry  of  all  the  information 
I  could  give  him  about  myself,  where  I  was  from, 
what  was  my  name,  where  I  was  going  to,  etc. 

After  a  while,  he  asked  me  if  I  ever  indulged.  I 
told  him  I  was  indulgent  to  a  fault,  providing  the 
liquor  wasn't  certain  death,  like  the  most  of  it  in 
Texas.  (I  once  drank  some  in  Castroville,  that  was 
so  awful  bad  that  it  burnt  a  hole  in  my  sleeve  when  I 
wiped  my  mouth  afterward.)  My  friend,  however, 
said  they  had  pretty  fair  liquor  there ;  and  he  took  me 
to  a  little  room  off  to  one  side,  where  refreshments 
of  all  sorts  were  ladled  out  to  the  crowd. 

"What'll  you  take?"  asked  my  new  friend. 

"Well,  I  don't  care,"  said  I;  "I'm  not  particular, 
so  it  ain't  stronger  that  fourth-proof  brandy." 

"  'Spose,"  said  he,  "we  try  a  'white  lion'?" 

"Agreed,"  says  I,  off-hand  like,  just  as  if  I  knew 
perfectly  well  what  he  meant  by  a  'white  lion,'  though, 
of  course,  I  hadn't  the  least  idea  what  it  was. 

The  bar-keeper  took  a  tumbler,  poured  a  little 
water  in  it,  then  put  some  sugar,  and  a  good  deal  of 
brandy,  then  a  little  old  Jamaica  rum,  and  some 
pounded  ice,  and  then  clapping  another  tumbler  to  it, 
mouth  downward,  he  shook  'em  backward  and  for- 
ward till  everything  in  them  was  well  mixed  up.  He 
then  slipped  a  slice  of  fresh  pineapple  into  the  tumbler 
and  handed  it  to  me.  I  put  it  to  my  lips,  intending 
just  to  take  a  sip,  to  see  how  it  would  go ;  but  it  never 
left  them  till  I  had  drained  the  last  drop. 


266  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

It  was  hard  to  beat,  I  tell  you.  I  never  tasted  any- 
thing equal  to  it  but  once,  and  that  was  a  drink  of 
muddy  water  out  of  a  Mexican  gourd,  after  having 
been  without  any  for  five  days  and  nights.  I  had 
already  seen  most  of  the  'lions'  of  the  city,  but  the 
Vhite  lion'  took  the  lead  of  them  all.  If  I  had  joined 
the  Temperance  Society  only  the  day  before,  I  should 
have  backslidden  at  once.  There's  no  use  at  all  of 
joining  it,  when  you  have  to  encounter  one  of  these 
'lions'  in  the  path  every  day.  Father  Mathew  himself 
couldn't  scare  one  of  them  out  of  the  way! 

Well,  I  was  so  much  taken  up  with  my  ''lion,"  I  for- 
got my  new  friend  for  an  instant,  and  when  I  turned 
to  look  for  him  he  was  gone.  I  started  off  to  hunt  him 
up,  but  the  bar-keeper  called  to  me  and  told  me  I  had 
forgot  something. 

"What  is  it?"  I  asked. 

"To  pay  for  those  'lions',"  said  he. 

I  handed  out  the  change  without  a  word.  In  Texas, 
when  a  man  asks  you  to  drink,  it  is  expected  that  he 
will  pay,  of  course ;  in  the  Old  States,  it  seems  the  rule 
is  reversed.  But  customs  differ  everywhere.  I  looked 
all  around  the  room,  but  couldn't  find  my  new  friend 
anywhere,  nor  a  buckskin  "puss,"  filled  with  "six- 
shooter"  bullets  and  percussion  caps,  that  somebody 
had  cut  out  of  my  coat-pocket.  I  didn't  mind  losing 
the  bullets  much,  for  I  would  freely  have  given  them 
to  the  fellow  that  took  'em,  if  he  had  told  me  he 
needed  'em,  but  he  had  split  my  new  coat  about  six 
inches  on  the  side,  and  ruined  it  entirely.  I  suppose 
he  thought  he  had  got  a  purse  full  of  California  nug- 
gets, from  the  weight  of  it ;  and  I  rather  think  he  must 
have  felt  a  little  disappointed  when  he  emptied  it  and 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  267 

found  what  it  was  filled  with.  I  would  have  given  a 
"slick  quarter"  just  to  have  seen  how  he  looked  when 
the  bullets  and  percussion  caps  rolled  out. 

But,  he  wasn't  the  first  fellow,  I  thought  to  myself, 
by  a  long  ways,  that  got  only  bullets  from  me  when  he 
expected  something  more  agreeable.  A  good  many 
others  have  carried  off  my  lead  with  'em,  and  some 
not  very  far,  at  that.  I  ain't  in  the  habit,  you  know, 
of  bragging  in  this  way,  but  you  see  it  was  all  owing 
to  the  "white  lions"  that  somehow  had  got  into  my 
head,  for  by  this  time  I  had  "repeated." 

Well,  I  was  beginning  to  get  somewhat  tired  of  the 
"fandango,"  and  was  just  about  to  despatch  another 
"white  lion,"  with  the  full  intention  of  exterminating 
the  breed  at  once,  when  a  young  woman,  dressed  in  a 
fanciful  sort  of  costume,  came  up  to  me,  and  said  "she 
presumed  I  was  a  stranger  in  the  city." 

"How  in  the  world,"  thought  I,  "does  everybody 
know  I'm  a  stranger  in  the  city?  Perhaps  it's  my 
^sombrero,'  with  its  broad  brim,  and  silver  tassels 
hanging  down  behind;"  and  I  remembered  then  I 
hadn't  seen  anyboy  else  in  the  city  with  one  on. 

"Yes,"  said  I,  "Miss;  I  haven't  been  in  the  place 
long." 

"I  thought  not,"  said  she;  "you  look  like  you  had 
lately  been  transported  from  your  native  soil;  you 
haven't  wilted  a  bit  yet." 

"I  am  afraid  I  will,  though,  now,"  said  I,  "since  I 
have  met  with  you;"  for  there  was  something  about 
that  young  woman  that  was  ^monstrous'  taking !  She 
was  built  up  from  the  ground,  and  she  walked  as 
springy  as  a  ^spike  buck.'  Her  foot  wasn't  longer  than 


268  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

my  thumb,  and  the  prettiest  sort  of  pigtail  curls  hung 
down  all  around  her  neck. 

"Cross  my  hand,"  said  she,  holding  out  a  little  paw 
about  the  size  of  a  possum's,  with  a  flesh-colored 
glove  on  it,  "and  FU  tell  you  your  fortune." 

"My  dear,"  said  I — for  by  this  time  I  wasn't  afraid 
to  say  anything,  the  "lions"  had  made  me  so  bold — 
"I  don't  care  about  having  my  fortune  told;  but  I'll 
give  you  a  two-and-a-half-dollar  gold  piece  if  you 
will  take  off  that  mask  and  let  me  have  a  peep  at  that 
pretty  face  of  yours." 

"Agreed,"  she  answered.  "But  I  must  tell  you  your 
fortune  first,  anyhow,  just  to  convince  you  that  I 
understand  my  trade.  Hold  out  your  hand;"  and  I 
poked  out  a  paw  that  will  span  the  head  of  a  flour- 
barrel  'with  ease  and  elegance.'  She  took  it  in  both 
hers,  and  examined  it  closely  for  some  time. 

"You  are  from  Texas,"  she  said;  and  she  followed 
a  wrinkle  on  my  hand  with  one  of  her  little  soft  fingers 
till  my  blood  tingled  all  the  way  up  to  my  elbow. 
"That  line  runs  straight  back  to  that  State." 

"You  are  a  witch,  sure  enough,"  said  I. 

"You  are  not  married,"  said  she,  "but  you  will  be 
before  long,  for  that  line"  (following  another  with 
her  finger  that  ran  up  to  the  bottom  of  my  thumb) 
"reaches  all  the  way  to  Cupid's  dominions." 

"Right  again,"  said  I;  "I  see  you  understand  your 
'trade,'  sure  enough." 

"And  this  line,"  she  went  on,  tracing  another  from 
the  middle  of  my  hand  till  it  sprangled  out  toward 
the  roots  of  my  fingers,  "shows  you've  roamed  about 
a  great  deal  in  the  prairies  and  backwoods  of  Texas. 
You  have  been  a  great  hunter,  and  no  doubt  have 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  269 

taken  the  scalps  from  the  heads  of  many  an  abori- 
gine." 

"No,"  said  I,  "we  haven't  any  of  those  varmints  in 
Texas;  but  I've  lifted  the  hair  from  the  head  of  many 
an  Indian;  and  if  I  only  had  'Old  Butch'  here,  I'd 
show  you  the  little  instrument  I  did  it  with;  but  the 
fellow  down  stairs  has  got  it.  But  how  in  the  world 
did  you  find  out  all  this?  You  are  a  witch  to  a  cer- 
tainty." 

"Of  course  I  am,"  she  answered,  "and  therefore  I 
can  easily  tell  that  you  are  now  on  your  way  to  'Old 
Virginny'." 

"That'll  do,"  I  said;  "I  see  you  know  it  all;  and  I 
won't  let  you  read  any  more  of  the  lines  on  my  hand, 
for  some  of  'em,  you  see,  run  into  places  where  I 
wouldn't  like  to  be  trailed  up.  Come,  I'm  as  dry  as  a 
'buffalo  chip,'  and  wish  you  would  ask  me  to  take 
something." 

"Why  don't  you  ask  me?"  said  she. 

"Because,"  I  answered,  "it  seems  to  be  the  custom 
here  for  the  one  that's  invited  to  pay;  and  I  don't 
want  you  to  settle  the  bar  bill." 

"Oh,  very  well,"  she  said,  "suppose  we  do  have 
something." 

So  we  went  up  to  the  bar,  and  she  asked  me  what 
I'd  take. 

"I'm  after  big  game  now,"  said  I,  "and  we'll  take 
a  'white  lion'." 

She  called  for  "a  lemonade  with  the  privilege,"  and 
the  "privilege,"  I  noticed  (which  was  Cognac  brandy) 
filled  up  the  tumbler  pretty  well  of  itself.  Well,  we 
stood  there  laughing  and  talking,  and  sipping  our 
liquor,  until  we  got  on  the  best  of  terms,  and  at  length 


270  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

I  ventured  to  take  her  hand  in  mine  and  give  it  a 
gentle  squeeze ;  but  I  had  drunk  so  many  "white  lions" 
I  couldn't  regulate  the  pressure  exactly,  and  I  squeezed 
harder  than  I  intended. 

The  young  woman  gave  a  keen  scream  and  jerked 
her  hand  away,  and  said  I  had  crippled  her  for  life.  I 
begged  a  thousand  pardons,  laid  the  blame  on  the 
"lions"  and  "love  at  first  sight,"  etc.;  and  finally  got 
her  in  a  good  humor  again.  A  woman  will  forgive  a 
fellow  anything,  if  he  can  only  make  her  believe  that 
it's  all  owing  to  her  good  looks  or  winning  ways. 

"And  now,"  said  I,  "that  we  are  friends  again,  I 
must  have  a  peep  at  that  pretty  face  of  yours,  as  you 
promised,"  and  I  handed  her  the  two-and-a-half- 
dollar  gold  piece. 

"Well,"  says  she,  "it's  about  time  to  be  going  home, 
anyhow,  and  I  suppose  it  will  make  no  difference." 

So  she  took  off  her  mask,  and — what  do  you  think? 
If  she  wasn't  a  full-blooded  "mulatto"  I  wish  I  may 
never  lift  the  hair  from  another  Indian!  I  was  so 
astonished  I  couldn't  say  a  word;  and  what  I  would 
have  done  I  don't  know,  but  just  then  I  heard  a  ter- 
rible row  going  on,  and  looking  round,  I  saw  my  first 
friend  sitting  on  a  table,  and  calling  out  the  figures  of 
the  "Stampede."  Nearly  everybody  in  the  room  had 
joined  in,  and  such  neighing,  curvetting,  and  prancing, 
and  pitching,  and  kicking  up,  I  never  saw  or  heard  on 
the  prairies  of  Texas.  At  last  the  manager  threw  his 
hat  among  'em  and  called  out,  "Stampede  all,"  and 
the  "rippit"  commenced.  The  women  screamed  and 
made  tracks  down  stairs,  while  the  men  kicked  over 
the  chairs  and  tables  and  pitched  into  each  other  right 
and  left. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  27  I 

One  fellow  came  along  by  where  I  was  standing, 
and  planted  his  boot-heel  with  all  his  might  on  the  top 
of  my  toes !  I  gave  him  three  or  four  pounds  of  my  fist 
right  in  the  middle  of  his  forehead,  and  he  tumbled 
over  on  the  floor  and  didn't  take  any  more  stock  in  that 
"scrimmage."  By  this  time  the  police  came  in  and 
took  a  hand  in  the  row,  and  things  got  livelier  than 
ever.  Two  fellows  grabbed  me  at  once:  I  took  an 
"under  crop"  out  of  the  ear  of  one  of  'em,  and  about 
half  the  hair  off  the  head  of  the  other.  (It  was  well 
for  him  I  didn't  have  "Old  Butch"  about  me,  or  I 
should  have  got  it  all. )  Pretty  soon  I  saw  a  mahogany 
chair  flying  straight  toward  me,  and  I  rather  suppose, 
from  the  bump  that  was  on  my  head  the  next  morning, 
that  it  had  finally  stopped  the  chair.  At  any  rate, 
that's  the  last  thing  I  recollect  about  the  "Quadroon 
Ball." 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

Wallace  in  Trouble — Leaves  New  Orleans — On  the  Mississippi 
— A  Boat  Race — Wallace  Roars  Like  a  Mexican  Lion — He 
"Sells"  a  Dandy — "Running  Against  a  Snag" — Anchored  on 
a  Sand-bank — Damage  Repaired,  and  Arrival  at  Cincinnati. 

IN  the  morning  when  I  woke  up,  I  found  myself 
lying  on  the  floor  of  a  room  with  little  grated 
windows  to  it,  and  two  or  three  policemen  walk- 
ing backward  and  forward  before  the  door.  There 
were  at  least  a  couple  of  dozen  besides  myself  in  the 
room,  all  looking  very  much  the  worse  for  wear :  an 
hour  or  so  afterward,  the  police  came  in,  and  took  us 
all  before  the  justice  of  the  peace.  He  fined  some  of 
us  considerably,  especially  those  that  seemed  to  be 
old  acquaintances,  and  sent  off  all  that  couldn't  pay 
to  the  "calaboose."  When  he  came  to  me,  and  found 
that  I  was  a  stranger  in  the  city,  he  only  fined  me  five 
dollars,  and  gave  me  lots  of  good  advice  gratis,  which 
I  forgot  ten  minutes  afterward. 

This  scrape  rather  sickened  me  with  New  Orleans, 
and  after  dinner  I  paid  my  bill  at  the  St.  Charles 
tavern,  and  hired  a  porter  to  take  my  trunk  to  a  steam- 
boat that  was  to  start  up  the  river  that  evening  for 
Cincinnati,  and  in  an  hour  or  two  after  I  went  aboard 
she  raised  steam  and  put  out. 

She  was  a  splendid  boat,  and  everything  belonging 
to  her  was  of  the  finest  sort,  just  as  if  the  owners  had 
no  idea  she  would  ever  "bust  up,"  or  run  into  a  snag 
or  a  sawyer,  which  I  believe  is  the  end,  sooner  or  later 
(generally  sooner),  of  all  Mississippi  steamboats. 
There  was  a  crowd  of  passengers  aboard,  and  the 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  273 

ladies'  cabin  was  filled  with  women  and  children. 
Such  eating  and  drinking  as  there  was  on  that  boat  I 
never  saw  before !  They  weren't  satisfied  with  three 
meals  a  day,  but  had  to  have  another,  between  break- 
fast and  dinner,  they  called  "lunch."  I  thought  of  the 
times  when  I  was  a  ranger,  and  used  to  ride  hard  all 
day,  and  then  breakfast,  lunch,  dine,  and  sup,  at  night, 
on  a  little  dried  beef  and  a  cake  of  "hard  tack,"  and  I 
wondered  how  these  city-folks  would  make  out  on 
such  fare ! 

The  river  was  very  high,  and  had  overflowed  all 
the  bottom  lands,  and  it  looked  strange  to  see  people 
going  from  one  house  to  another  in  pirogues  and  yawl- 
boats.  I  thought  I  would  rather  live  on  one  of  the 
high-and-dry  prairies  of  Texas,  where  I  had  to  haul 
my  drinking-water  five  miles,  than  in  such  a  place, 
where  I  could  neither  ride  nor  walk,  nor  do  anything 
but  paddle  about  in  a  "dug-out."  Water  is  a  good 
thing  in  moderation,  but  it  can  be  "overdid"  like 
everything  else,  just  as  it  is  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and 
in  most  of  the  liquors  we  get  in  Texas ! 

The  next  morning  after  leaving  New  Orleans,  we 
noticed  a  large  steamboat  come  puffing  on  behind  us. 
She  appeared  to  be  rapidly  gaining  on  us,  and  it  was 
soon  reduced  to  a  certainty  that  if  we  didn't  "hurry 
up  the  cakes,"  she  would  pass  us  before  long.  I  saw 
the  captain  of  our  boat  and  the  mate  with  their  heads 
together,  and  shortly  afterward  three  or  four  old  tar- 
barrels  and  half  a  dozen  sides  of  bacon  were  thrown 
into  the  furnace  by  the  firemen.  Pretty  soon  the  black 
smoke  began  to  rise  out  of  the  chimneys,  and  the  old 
steamer  quivered  and  shook  like  a  green  hunter  with 
the  "buck-ague."   By  this  time  the  other  steamer  had 


274  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

got  nearly  opposite  to  us,  and  everybody  on  it  and  on 
our  boat  hurraed  and  waved  their  hats  and  handker- 
chiefs. 

The  captain  of  our  boat  walked  up  and  down  the 
guards,  and  tried  to  look  as  unconcerned  as  if  he 
didn't  know  there  was  another  boat  in  ten  miles  of 
him,  but  I  saw  plainly  enough  that  he  wasn't  easy  in 
his  mind.  The  mate  ran  up  and  down  the  stairs  every 
five  minutes,  till  his  face  was  as  red  as  a  turkey- 
gobbler's  snout,  and  the  firemen  poked  everything 
into  the  furnace  they  could  lay  their  hands  on.  I  do 
believe  if  we  had  taken  the  brand-new  piano  out  of  the 
ladies'  cabin  and  handed  it  over  to  them,  they  would 
have  shoved  it  in  along  with  the  tar-barrels,  and  never 
thought  anything  strange  of  it!  Some  of  the  passen- 
gers were  afraid  the  boat  would  blow  up,  but  they 
soon  got  over  their  scare,  and  ^'hurraed"  as  loud  as 
the  rest.  And  such  a  fizzing  and  whizzing  and  sputter- 
ing of  steam  you  never  heard.  I  tell  you  it  was  almost 
as  exciting  as  a  running  fight  on  the  prairies  with  the 
Comanche  Indians! 

At  last  we  began  slowly  to  gain  on  the  other  boat, 
and  as  soon  as  the  passengers  noticed  it,  they  "hur- 
raed" louder  than  ever,  and  I  was  just  as  crazy  as  the 
balance.  I  do  believe,  if  I  had  known  positively  that 
our  boat  would  have  blown  up  the  next  minute,  I 
would  have  yelled  out,  "A  little  more  grape,  Captain 
Bragg,"  to  the  fellows  that  were  poking  the  fuel  into 
the  furnaces.  I  danced  the  "war  dance,"  gave  the 
Comanche  death-yell,  and  then  roared  like  a  Mexican 
lion ;  and  as  soon  as  I  saw  that  we  were  fairly  leaving 
the  other  boat  behind  us,  I  ran  up  to  the  captain  and 
grabbed  him  by  the  hand.   The  captain  tried  to  look 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  275 

as  If  he  thought  the  whole  affair  a  small  matter,  but  I 
could  see  well  enough  that  he  was  tickled  to  the  back- 
bone. However,  he  was  "sensible  to  the  last,"  for  the 
first  words  he  said  to  me  were,  "Let's  go  and  take 
something,"  and  we  went. 

After  we  had  taken  a  horn,  the  captain  said  to  me, 
"See  here,  my  friend,  what  sort  of  a  yell  do  you  call 
that  you  gave  just  now  as  we  passed  the  other  boat?" 

"That,"  said  I,  "was  the  bona  fide  screech  of  the 
genuine  Mexican  lion." 

"Well,"  said  he,  "I  wouldn't  begrudge  ^Yt  hundred 
dollars  if  I  had  a  steam  whistle  on  my  boat  that  would 
blow  in  that  style."  From  that  time  the  captain  seemed 
to  take  a  great  fancy  to  me,  and  always  asked  me  to 
"liquor"  whenever  he  went  up  to  the  bar,  which  was 
about  every  half-hour  on  a  "low  average,"  for  he 
wasn't  a  hard  drinker  by  any  means. 

One  day,  we  stopped  a  little  while  at  a  place  called 
Vicksburg,  in  Mississippi,  where  the  gamblers  were 
all  hung  some  years  ago.  Pity  we  haven't  got  half  a 
dozen  Vicksburgs  in  Texas!  At  this  place  a  fellow 
came  on  board  and  took  passage  for  somewhere  up 
the  river.  He  was  a  dandified-looking  little  fellow, 
dressed  up  in  the  height  of  the  fashion.  How  he  kept 
his  shirt-bosom  and  his  clothes  so  smooth,  was  a  mys- 
tery to  me.  He  looked  as  slick  and  as  shiny  all  over 
as  a  newly  varnished  cupboard.  He  had  a  great  many 
rings  on  his  fingers  (and  on  his  toes,  too,  for  all  I 
know),  and  wore  a  big  gold  chain  looped  up  in  his 
vest  pocket,  and  the  half  of  a  pair  of  spectacles  hung 
round  his  neck  by  a  black  ribbon.  Every  now  and  then 
he  would  put  this  up  to  his  eye,  and  take  a  sight 
through  it  at  the  ladies  in  the  cabin.  He  was  evidently 


276  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

laboring  under  a  disease  which  we  call  in  Texas  the 
"swell-head,"  and  I  saw  plain  enough  if  something 
wasn't  done  for  him  pretty  soon,  there  would  be  no 
chance  for  him  ever  to  get  over  it;  for  it's  a  hard  com- 
plaint to  get  rid  of,  anyhow! 

The  first  time  he  dined  on  the  boat,  he  happened  to 
take  his  seat  at  the  table  right  opposite  to  where  I  sat; 
and  what  do  you  think  he  did?  He  took  out  a  silver 
knife  and  fork  from  a  little  morocco  case  he  had 
brought  along  with  him,  and  ate  his  dinner  with  them, 
instead  of  the  knife  and  fork  by  his  plate,  which  were 
good  enough  for  anybody.  Thinks  I,  old  fellow, 
here's  a  fine  chance  to  do  something  for  your  case,  and 
I'll  see  if  I  can't  take  advantage  of  it. 

The  next  day  we  stopped  at  a  wood-yard  to  take  in 
fuel,  and  I  went  on  shore,  and,  while  the  deck-hands 
were  getting  in  the  wood,  I  whittled  out  a  wooden 
case-knife  about  three  feet  long,  and  a  fork  in  propor^ 
tion.  When  I  had  finished  them,  I  hid  them  under  my 
coat,  and  carried  them  to  my  state-room  without  any- 
body seeing  them.  There  was  a  gentleman  occupying 
the  state-room  with  me,  and  I  had  to  let  him  into  the 
secret,  but  he  was  mightily  tickled  at  the  idea  of 
*'doing  the  dandy,"  and  lent  me  the  case  of  his  double- 
barrel  gun,  which  was  just  about  long  enough  to  hold 
my  knife  and  fork. 

When  the  dinner-bell  rang,  I  took  my  seat  at  the 
table  right  opposite  the  chap  with  the  "swell  head," 
with  my  "gun-case"  hid  away  under  my  frock  coat, 
and  waited  for  him  to  begin  operations.  He  carefully 
laid  the  knife  and  fork  by  his  plate  to  one  side,  and 
took  out  his  own  silver  ones  from  the  little  morocco 
case,  and  began  to  eat  in  a  "finniken"  sort  of  way!   I 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  277 

followed  suit  precisely,  laid  my  knife  and  fork  to  one 
side,  placed  my  "gun-case"  on  the  table,  and  drew  out 
my  three-foot  butcher  knife  and  "pitchfork,"  and  be- 
gan eating  with  them  as  sober  as  a  judge.  As  soon  as 
the  folks  at  the  table  saw  what  I  was  up  to,  the  ladies 
all  "tittered,"  and  the  gentlemen  "haw,  hawed,"  right 
out — the  captain  especially  laughed  till  the  tears  ran 
down  his  cheeks ;  but  I  never  cracked  a  smile,  and  kept 
on  eating  as  "solemn"  as  a  parson  at  a  funeral. 

After  dinner,  the  captain  came  up  to  me,  and  says 
he,  "Texas"  ( for  that  was  what  he  always  called  me ) , 
"you  are  a  trump,  sure,"  and  he  made  me  a  present  of 
a  fine  bowie-knife,  which  I  have  got  yet,  but  it  don't 
lift  hair  like  "Old  Butch;"  and  besides,  when  I  went 
to  settle  for  my  passage,  he  knocked  off  five  dollars, 
just  for  the  effectual  way  in  which  he  said  I  had  "done 
for"  the  dandy.  What  went  with  "Swell  Head" 
nobody  knows,  for  he  disappeared  from  the  boat  that 
day,  and  we  never  saw  him  afterward. 

The  next  day,  as  we  were  going  along  "full  clatter" 
against  the  swift  current  of  the  Mississippi,  we  ran 
head  on  against  a  snag,  and  stove  a  hole  in  the  bottom 
of  the  boat  as  big  as  a  flour-barrel.  I  had  often  heard 
of  running  against  a  snag,  and  I  understood  the  mean- 
ing of  it  pretty  well  after  I  tackled  an  old  she-bear 
once,  and  got  three  hugs  and  a  bite  from  her  before 
"Old  Butch"  had  the  least  show;  but  this  was  the  first 
time  I  ever  actually  came  in  contact  with  the  bona  fide 
article !  I  tell  you  it  made  everything  hop,  and  the  old 
boat  quivered  from  stem  to  stern  like  a  dying  buffalo ! 
The  ladies  all  came  pouring  out  of  the  cabin,  scream- 
ing like  wild-cats,  and  some  crying  out,  "Oh!  we  are 
lost!  we  are  lost!"   "The  boat  is  sinking;"  and  some 


278  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

of  the  men,  I  noticed,  were  worse  scared  than  the 
women.  Such  a  "hubbub"  and  "to  do"  you  never  saw ! 

I  wasn't  the  least  bit  frightened  myself,  for  I 
learned  to  swim  (like  a  puppy  or  an  Indian  papoose) 
before  my  eyes  were  open;  and  I  stood  on  the  guards, 
quietly  waiting  for  the  boat  to  sink,  when  I  intended 
to  strike  out  for  the  nearest  shore.  Most  of  the 
women  screamed,  and  prayed,  and  wrung  their  hands, 
as  if  they  thought  it  was  the  best  way  to  keep  the  boat 
from  going  down;  but  I  noticed  one  young  woman 
that  never  "took  on"  at  all  the  whole  time;  and  a 
mighty  good-looking  one  she  was,  too!  She  was  as 
pale  as  a  lily,  but  as  calm  and  quiet  as  a  morning  in 
May,  and  didn't  seem  the  least  bit  frightened  for  her- 
self, but  only  on  account  of  a  lame  old  gentleman, 
who,  I  suppose,  was  her  father.  She  held  on  to  his 
hand  all  the  while,  and  looked  up  at  him  so  lovingly 
and  affectionately,  I  wouldn't  have  minded  being  her 
"pa"  myself  for  a  short  time. 

I  determined,  when  the  time  came  to  "strike  out," 
to  take  that  young  woman  and  the  old  gentleman  into 
my  especial  keeping,  and  see  'em  safe  to  shore;  but 
just  then  a  fat  old  lady,  who  weighed  perhaps  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  gross,  came  waddling 
by  in  a  great  fright,  and  grabbed  me  by  the  arm;  and 
then  another  woman  came  along  and  hitched  on  to 
my  other  arm,  while  another  clinched  my  coat  tall, 
and  they  hung  on  to  me  like  leeches  till  the  alarm  was 
over!  If  the  boat  had  gone  down  I  wouldn't  have 
had  a  chance  even  to  kick  when  I  was  drowning — they 
"hampered"  me  so ! 

The  minute  the  boat  struck  the  snag,  the  pilot 
backed  her  off,  and  steered  for  the  nearest  shore;  but 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  279 

she  filled  so  fast,  we  never  could  have  made  half  the 
distance.  Luckily  for  us,  though,  and  particularly  for 
me,  with  three  women  hanging  on  to  me,  we  hadn't 
gone  more  than  two  or  three  hundred  yards  before  we 
ran  on  to  a  sandbar  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  and 
settled  down  on  it  hard  and  fast !  and  that  was  all  that 
saved  us.  We  laid  there  two  days  and  nights,  pump- 
ing out  the  boat  and  stopping  up  the  hole  the  snag 
had  made  in  the  bottom.  When  everything  was  put  to 
rights,  we  raised  steam  up  to  the  high-pressure  point 
and  backed  off,  and  once  more  went  on  our  way  re- 
joicing. Two  or  three  days  afterward  we  landed  at 
Cincinnati,  without  any  further  accident. 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

Cincinnati — Waiter  Girls  at  the  Hotel — Wallace  Discourses 
of  Politeness — Southerners  and  Yankees — A  Little  Dish  of 
Politics — Goes  to  Dan  Rice's  Circus — Rides  a  Refractory- 
Horse,  and  Makes  Twenty  Dollars — What  Wallace  Thought 
of  Cincinnati. 

A  RRIVED  at  Cincinnati,  I  hired  a  hack  and 

/^L    went  up  to  the tavern,  where  I  took  a 

^  )\  room,  as  I  intended  to  stay  long  enough  in 
the  city  to  see  all  the  sights. 

Pretty  soon  the  gong  rang  for  dinner,  and  I  went 
in  and  took  a  seat  at  the  table.  A  handsome  young 
woman  stepped  up  to  me  and  asked  me  "what  I'd 
take!"  I  din't  understand  exactly  at  first  what  she 
said,  and  I  got  up  from  my  chair  and  offered  it  to  her. 
She  looked  a  little  astonished,  and  everybody  around 
laughed  right  out.  Would  you  believe  it,  she  was  only 
a  waiter,  and  I  then  noticed  that  every  one  of  the 
waiters  at  the  table  was  a  young  woman,  and  all 
dressed  exactly  alike.  There  must  have  been  twenty 
of  them  at  least,  and  a  pretty  sight  they  were,  too,  and 
one  well  calculated  to  give  a  fellow  an  appetite.  No 
wonder  that  tavern  was  the  most  popular  one  in  Cin- 
cinnati ! 

I  took  my  seat  again,  and  of  course  felt  a  little  fool- 
ish, but  it  didn't  take  away  my  appetite ;  and  when  the 
young  woman  asked  me  again  what  I'd  have  for  din- 
ner, I  told  her  about  five  pounds  of  roast  beef,  rare, 
(my  usual  allowance),  and  the  "condiments."  In  a 
twinkling  the  roast  beef  was  smoking  before  me,  with 
the  "condiments"  piled  up  all  around  it  in  little  dishes, 
about  the  size  and  mostly  in  the  shape  of  a  big  oyster- 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  28 1 

shell.  I  have  seen  all  sorts  of  waiters  in  my  travels, 
negroes,  Mexicans,  French,  and  Dutch,  but  these 
young  women  were  the  spryest  and  handiest  I  ever 
met  with.  All  I  had  to  do  was  to  wink  or  make  a 
motion  with  my  head,  and  what  I  wanted  was  there ! 

When  I  had  finished  the  beef  and  "condiments," 
the  young  woman  asked  me  what  I'd  take  for  dessert. 
I  looked  at  her  pretty  little  red  pouting  lips,  and 
wanted  to  say  that  I'd  taper  off  on  them;  but  I  didn't, 
for  if  there's  anything  in  the  world  I  despise  more 
than  anything  else,  it  is  a  man  who  will  make  rude  and 
insulting  speeches  to  a  woman,  just  because  he  can  do 
so  with  impunity.  Such  a  man  is  the  most  contemptible 
of  all  animals,  and  isn't  fit  to  be  cut  up  into  bait  to 
catch  mud-cats  with. 

Well,  I  suppose  every  country  has  its  particular 
fashions,  but  this  was  the  first  time  I  ever  was  at  the 
table  where  the  men  were  waited  on  by  the  women ! 
It  didn't  seem  right  to  me  to  hear  great,  coarse,  rough 
fellows  ordering  these  nice  young  women  about  as  if 
they  had  been  "niggers."  A  low-bred  dog,  that  sat 
opposite  to  me,  told  one  of  them  to  bring  him  some 
fried  chicken,  and  because  she  didn't  bring  him  the 
hind  leg  or  some  other  particular  piece  he  wanted,  he 
told  her  she  was  a  "good-for-nothing  minx,"  and  sent 
her  back  to  get  it.  If  I  could  have  had  that  gentleman 
to  myself  in  the  "chaparral"  for  about  five  minutes,  I 
would  freely  have  given  a  couple  of  Spanish  ponies — 
just  for  the  privilege  of  teaching  him  some  of  the  rudi- 
ments of  common  politeness !  You  bet  I  would  have 
given  him  a  distaste  to  fried  chicken  the  balance  of 
his  natural  life. 

I'll  tell  you  what  is  a  fact:  The  Yankees  may  brag 


282  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

as  much  as  they  please  about  their  refinement  and 
education ;  but  with  all  of  it,  they  are  not  near  so  polite 
to  the  women  as  the  Southerners  are.  They  are  a  "go- 
ahead/*  energetic,  enterprising  people,  full  of  vim 
and  vigor,  and  shrewd,  smart,  and  calculating,  the 
very  sort  of  people  to  get  along  in  this  world,  the  way 
it  is  "put  up"  at  present;  but  it  seems  to  me  they  lack 
a  something  that  the  Southerners  have,  that  is  neces- 
sary in  the  making  up  of  a  number-one  gentleman.  I 
can't  tell,  to  save  me,  what  that  is  (and  maybe,  after 
all,  it's  only  a  notion  of  mine) ,  but  at  any  rate  it's  one 
that  can't  be  changed  very  easily.  I  don't  say  this  out 
of  prejudice  to  the  Northern  people,  for  we  have  our 
faults  as  well  as  they;  and  I  think  it  probable,  taking 
into  consideration  the  different  way  in  which  they  have 
been  taught  and  brought  up,  that,  if  a  correct  balance 
was  struck  between  them  and  us,  the  remainder  of 
sterling,  substantial  qualities  would  be  in  their  favor. 
But  I  give  this  opinion  more  to  let  the  Southern  people 
know  I've  studied  arithmetic,  than  for  any  great 
weight  I  expect  them  to  place  on  it.  That  the  Yankees 
are  an  ingenious  people,  I  know  all  will  admit  at  once. 
Give  one  of  them  a  Barlow  knife  and  a  piece  of  white 
pine  for  his  stock  in  trade,  and  he'll  make  money  out 
of  it;  if  he  can't  do  anything  else,  he'll  whittle  It  up  In 
wooden  nutmegs,  that  will  be  better  than  the  imported 
ones,  only  they  won't  flavor  a  toddy  or  a  mince-pie 
quite  so  well ! 

A  great  many  Southerners  are  mightily  "down  on" 
the  Yankees  for  the  way  they  have  treated  us  since  the 
war  ended — and  the  Yankees  ought  not  to  be  sur- 
prised at  it.  When  a  fellow  comes  to  your  house,  and 
beats  and  bangs  you  about,  because  he  is  able  to  do  it, 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  283 

and  takes  the  most  of  your  property,  and  leaves  you 
as  poor  as  a  "church  mouse,"  you  ain't  going  to  love 
him,  that's  certain,  no  matter  how  much  you  may  have 
done  to  excuse  such  treatment — it  isn't  human  nature ; 
and  besides,  many  of  the  Southerners  really  think  they 
were  in  the  right  from  the  start.  For  my  part,  I  can 
forgive  them  everything  they  have  done  since  the  war 
began,  except  turning  the  negroes  loose  among  us, 
and  giving  them  the  right  to  vote  and  make  laws  for 
us.  I  do  not  mind  their  being  set  free,  for  that  was 
the  natural  consequence  of  the  war;  but  to  take  four 
millions  of  ignorant  darkeys  out  of  the  sugar-fields 
and  cotton  plantations,  and  give  'em  the  right  of 
voting  and  making  laws  to  govern  this  great  country 
was  a  crying  shame ;  for  hardly  one  of  them  could  tell 
J  from  a  bandy  stick,  or  knew  anything  more  about 
the  principles  of  our  government  than  they  did  about 
mathematics  or  algebra. 

Besides,  any  one  who  will  notice  the  way  in  which 
the  "nigger"  is  "gotten  up,"  will  be  satisfied  that  he 
is  not  the  equal  of  the  white  man  in  mind  or  body. 
When  we  see  a  white  man  with  a  low  forehead,  pop 
eyes,  and  no  chin  to  speak  of,  and  what  head  he's  got 
bulging  all  out  toward  the  back  part,  we  generally 
find  he  isn't  overburdened  with  sense ;  but  this  is  the 
case  with  nearly  all  "niggers;"  and,  besides,  they  have 
wool  on  their  heads  instead  of  hair,  blubber  lips,  bandy 
legs,  jaybird  heels,  thick  skulls,  and  an  odor  that  the 
rankest  abolitionist  I  ever  saw  didn't  fancy  on  a  hot 
day.  "Cuflfee"  has  some  good  points,  I  won't  deny 
(and  I  hope,  since  he  has  been  set  free,  that  the  white 
people  will  give  him  all  the  "showing"  he  deserves)  ; 
but  statesmanship,   and  the   abilities  necessary  for 


284  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

legislating  for  this  great  country  ain't  among  the 
number. 

But  as  the  French  say  (which  I  learnt  from  'em 
when  I  was  in  New  Orleans),  ^^Revaw  noo  ah  noo 
crapo^^ — 'let  us  return  to  our  frogs."  After  dinner, 
I  asked  one  of  the  landlords  of  the  tavern  (for  I  be- 
lieve there  were  at  least  six  of  them),  if  there  was 
anything  amusing  going  on  in  town. 

"Nothing  just  now,"  said  he,  "except  Dan  Rice's 
circus." 

I  had  been  to  a  circus  once  at  San  Antonio,  but  as 
it  seemed  there  was  nothing  else  on  hand,  I  concluded 
to  go  to  this  one,  too.  So  I  went,  and  found  that  it 
was  the  same  old  thing  over  again.  The  clown  had 
the  same  old  jokse,  cut  and  dried,  I  had  heard  ten 
years  before,  and  the  "ring-master"  walked  around 
in  a  circle,  cracking  his  whip,  and  letting  the  clown 
fool  him  continually  in  the  same  old  way,  for  which 
he  paid  him  off  every  time  by  a  cut  upon  the  shins.  A 
handsome  young  woman,  dressed  in  tights  and  a  little 
short  dress,  that  looked  about  as  substantial  as  a  puff 
of  tobacco-smoke,  came  out,  and  did  some  pretty  fair 
riding  on  one  foot,  and  jumped  over  the  ribbons  and 
through  a  hoop  that  was  field  up  for  her,  without  ever 
making  a  slip.  I  thought,  how  nice  it  would  be  if  a 
man  only  had  a  wife  like  that  young  woman,  to  ride 
around  the  yard  of  a  summer's  evening,  and  amuse 
him  when  he  felt  low-spirited  and  gloomy.  She  was 
mighty  good-looking,  too.  in  the  bargain ;  but  when  I 
came  to  inquire  more  particularly  about  her,  of  a 
gentleman  who  was  well  acquainted  with  all  these 
circus-people,  he  told  me  she  had  already  had  three 
husbands,  and  was  about  through  with  the  fourth,  who 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  285 

was  then  on  his  last  legs ;  so  I  concluded  she  wasn't 
as  interesting  and  amusing  a  creature  as  I  had  taken 
her  to  be. 

I  had  begun  to  get  pretty  well  tired  of  the  concern, 
when  the  ring-master  led  out  a  horse,  and  offered  ten 
dollars  to  any  one  who  would  ride  him  around  the 
circle.  A  negro  boy  got  on  him,  but  had  hardly  fixed 
himself  in  the  saddle  when  the  horse  made  a  lunge  or 
two,  and  pitched  him  right  against  a  Shetland  pony 
that  was  hitched  near  by.  Fortunately  his  head  struck 
first,  and  of  course  he  wasn't  hurt;  but  the  Shetland 
pony  was  killed  dead  on  the  spot,  and  had  to  be  '*drug 
out."  Two  or  three  others  tried  to  ride  the  horse,  but 
he  threw  them  all  before  they  got  him  half  round  the 
ring.  I  didn't  like  to  make  a  show  of  myself,  but  then 
I  hated  to  see  the  horse  come  off  winner,  when  I  knew 
I  could  ride  him,  so  I  stepped  into  the  circle,  and  told 
the  ring-master  that  I  would  try  him  a  small  "hitch" 
myself.  I  sprang  into  the  saddle,  and  in  a  moment 
the  fellow  discovered,  from  the  way  I  maneuvered, 
that  I  was  going  to  "stick"  him;  so  he  made  some 
excuse  to  take  hold  of  the  bridle,  and  said  to  me,  in  a 
low  voice,  "Where  are  you  from?" 

"From  Texas,"  said  I. 

"The  d — 1!"  said  he.  "I'll  give  you  twenty  dollars 
if  you  will  let  the  horse  throw  you." 

"Done !"  said  I,  for  I  knew  what  he  was  up  to;  so 
after  a  pitch  or  so,  I  pretended  to  lose  my  balance, 
and  rolled  off  upon  the  sawdust.  The  ring-master 
picked  me  up,  and  slipped  a  twenty-dollar  gold-piece 
into  my  hand,  which  paid  me  pretty  well  for  all  the 
damage  that  had  been  done ;  but  I  could  have  ridden 
the  lights  out  of  that  horse  if  I  had  been  a  mind  to, 


286  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

and  he  might  just  as  well  have  tried  to  pitch  his  own 
hide  off,  as  to  "oust"  me,  after  I  had  once  got  fixed 
in  the  saddle.  The  ring-master  made  me  an  offer  to 
join  the  circus ;  and  if  that  young  woman  hadn't  had 
so  many  husbands  already,  I  might  have  ''enlisted" 
with  'em  for  a  spell ;  but  as  it  was,  I  declined. 

Cincinnati  is  as  handsome  a  city  as  I  ever  saw,  and 
the  streets  are  as  clean  as  if  they  were  scoured  every 
Saturday  night.  The  people  do  a  lively  business  in  the 
"pig  line,"  and  the  first  question  they  ask  one  another 
when  they  meet  on  the  streets,  is,  "How's  pork 
to-day?"  and  they  are  gay  and  jolly,  or  dull  and  low- 
spirited,  just  as  "pork"  is  "lively"  and  "looking  up," 
or  "heavy"  and  "flat."  I  think  a  good  coat-of-arms 
for  Cincinnati  would  be  a  fat  shoat  "rooting"  upon 
an  "azure  field,"  and  a  keg  of  lard  "couchant"  on  its 
side,  with  bunches  of  sausages  and  "adamantine  dips" 
hanging  around,  and  the  motto  underneath, 
"Root,  pig,  or  die." 

I  heard  that  there  was  one  establishment  in  the  city 
for  packing  pork,  where  they  had  a  sort  of  mill,  into 
the  hopper  of  which  you  can  throw  a  hog  alive  and 
squealing,  and  by  the  time  you  can  run  round  to  the 
other  side  a  couple  of  canvas  hams  will  roll  out,  then 
a  couple  of  sides  and  shoulders,  then  fifteen  or  twenty 
pounds  of  souse,  and  two  or  three  strings  of  sausages, 
and  lastly  a  few  dribblings  in  the  way  of  stearine  can- 
dles, bar-soap,  and  bristles  done  up  in  bundles  ready 
for  the  brush  and  shoemaker  I  Everything  that  went 
in  at  one  side  comes  out  at  the  other  in  some  shape — 
except  the  "squeal."  I  didn't  see  this  machine  in  oper- 
ation myself,  but  I  was  told  about  it  by  a  member  of 
the  church,  and  of  course  it's  all  so ! 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

Off  for  Wheeling — Everybody  Smoking — Wallace's  First  Trip 
in  the  Cars — What  He  Thought  of  Railroad  Traveling — 
Richmond — The  Dime  Restaurant — Wallace  Goes  to  a  Fire, 
and  Gets  "Put  Out"— What  He  Thought  of  Prince  Albert- 
Wallace  Leaves  Richmond,  and  Goes  to  Lexington — What 
His  Relatives  Thought  of  Him— The  "Wild  Texan"  at  a 
"Fandango,"  Where  He  Tells  Some  "Big  Stories" — Miss 
Matilda,  and  What  She  Heard— Wallace  Gets  Tired  of 
Civilization,  and  Goes  Back  to  Texas. 

A  FTER  I  had  seen  pretty  much  all  the  sights  in 

Zd\     Cincinnati,  I  went  on  board  of  a  steamer  and 

-A_   jX-took  passage  for  Wheeling,  where  we  landed 

safely  without  anything  worthy  of  note  happening  to 

us  on  the  way.    I  went  ashore  at  once,  and  took  up 

my  quarters  at House.    Wheeling  is  a  dull, 

smoky-looking  town.  The  air  was  smoky,  the  houses 
were  smoky,  the  trees  were  smoky — even  the  people 
were  smoky;  and  when  I  went  into  supper  I  found 
that  that  was  smoky,  too,  particularly  the  coffee, 
which  tasted  as  if  it  had  been  boiled  on  a  sobby  fire 
in  a  pot  without  any  lid  to  it.  I  didn't  fancy  the 
*'lay-out''  of  the  place  at  all,  and,  finding  that  the  cars 
left  that  night  for  Richmond,  I  had  my  trunk  taken 
to  the  depot,  and  about  12  o'clock  I  bid  good-by  to 
the  city  of  Wheeling,  and  if  I  never  see  it  again  I 
shan't  grieve  myself  to  death,  certain ! 

I  never  had  traveled  on  a  railroad  before,  and  the 
whole  "lay-out"  was  new  and  strange  to  me — the 
puffing  of  the  engines,  the  clatter  of  iron  wheels,  and 
the  rapidity  with  which  we  scudded  by  every  object 
on  the  wayside.    I  couldn't  get  over  the  idea  for  some 


288  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

time,  whenever  I  looked  out,  that  the  horses  were 
running  away  with  the  stage !  Whenever  the  cars 
gave  a  harder  jolt  than  usual,  I  shut  my  eyes  and 
clinched  my  teeth,  expecting  the  next  instant  I  would 
be  shot  to  "the  other  side  of  Jordan,"  at  the  rate  of 
forty  miles  a  minute.  But  I  noticed  that  the  people  on 
the  cars  who  were  used  to  railroads,  laughed  and 
talked,  and  seemed  as  unconcerned  as  I  would  on  the 
back  of  a  wild  mustang;  although  we  had  been  told 
that,  only  a  few  days  before,  a  train  had  run  off  a 
high  embankment,  and  smashed  up  everything  at  such 
a  rate,  that  one  poor  fellow  who  got  jammed  between 
two  of  the  cars,  was  flattened  out  so  they  had  to  roll 
him  up  like  a  sheet  of  paper  before  they  could  get  him 
into  his  coffin;  and  another  that  was  caught  somehow 
endways,  was  driven  up  into  so  small  a  lump  that  they 
buried  him  just  as  he  stood,  in  a  box  no  bigger  than  a 
five-gallon  demijohn !  I  don't  know  which  would  be 
the  most  "unpalatable,"  the  "flattening  out"  or  the 
"driving  up"  process;  but  for  my  part,  even  if  I  was 
killed,  I  should  prefer  to  retain  my  usual  dimensions 
six  feet  four  in  length  by  two  in  breadth  across  the 
shoulders. 

There  is  another  thing  about  this  railroad  traveling 
I  don't  like  at  all !  They  don't  give  a  fellow  half  time 
enough  to  stow  away  his  "grub"  decently  at  his  meals, 
but  compel  him  to  bolt  everything  he  eats  like  a 
starved  coyote.  We  stopped  at  a  fine  tavern  for 
breakfast,  and  I  paid  a  man  at  the  door  fifty  cents  to 
let  me  in ;  but  just  as  I  had  sweetened  my  coffee  to  my 
notion,  and  buttered  four  biscuits,  and  peppered  and 
salted  half  a  dozen  boiled  eggs  I  had  broke  into  a, 
tumbler,  the  whistle  was  blown,  and  everybody  bolted 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  289 

for  the  cars,  and  I  along  with  them,  and  I  had  just 
time  to  jump  on  the  platform  when  off  they  started. 
I  hope  some  clever  fellow  got  my  breakfast,  for  it  was 
fixed  up  "all  right,"  sure — particularly  the  eggs.  But 
I  concluded  that  sort  of  game  wouldn't  pay  in  the 
long  run ;  so  when  we  stopped  for  dinner  I  bolted  my 
provisions  whole  (a  trick  I  had  learned  when  I  was  a 
prisoner  in  Mexico),  and  trusted  to  the  strength  of 
my  gizzard,  which  was  "equal  to  the  emergency,"  as 
the  politicians  say. 

When  I  hadn't  time  to  bolt  my  rations  before  the 
whistle  was  blown,  I  grabbed  up  a  plate  of  fried 
chicken,  or  something  else,  and  a  "pone"  or  two  of 
bread,  and  walked  off  with  it,  plate  and  all,  and  fin- 
ished my  meal  at  my  leisure  in  the  cars.  By  the  time 
I  reached  Richmond  I  had  a  pile  of  dishes  and  plates 
in  my  corner  of  the  car,  enough  to  have  set  out  a 
small  table  decently,  if  they  had  only  been  washed ! 

Just  before  we  got  to  Richmond,  a  fellow  I  had  got 
acquainted  with  on  the  cars  advised  me  to  stop  at  the 
"Dime  Restaurant,"  where,  he  said,  I  would  be  much 
better  accommodated,  and  on  more  reasonable  terms, 
than  at  the  "first-class  hotels."  So,  when  I  got  to  the 
depot,  I  hired  one  of  the  hacks  and  told  the  driver  to 
take  me  to  the  "Dime  Restaurant."  When  I  got  there 
I  asked  the  clerk  for  a  room,  and  he  gave  me  a  very 
comfortable  one,  with  a  good  bed  in  it,  and  every- 
thing else  a  fellow  needed;  and  for  this  I  paid  fifty 
cents  a  day.  He  gave  me  the  key  of  this  room,  which 
he  said  was  mine  as  long  as  I  wanted  it,  and  that  I 
could  go  or  come  whenever  it  suited  me. 

After  I  had  washed  and  slicked  up  a  little,  I  went 
down  into  the  dining-room  and  took  a  seat  at  one  of 


290  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

the  tables,  and  in  a  minute  a  waiter  brought  me  a 
^'bill-of-fare,"  which  is  a  sort  of  "muster-roll"  of  all 
the  kinds  of  grub  on  hand.  There  was  hardly  a  thing 
in  the  "eating  line"  that  wasn't  put  down  on  this 
"muster-roll."  The  only  "absentees"  I  noticed  were 
"buffalo-hump,"  "marrow-gut,"  and  bear-meat;  but  I 
suppose  they  can't  always  be  had  in  a  city  like  Rich- 
mond. On  one  occasion,  out  of  curiosity,  I  attempted 
to  call  for  all  on  the  roll  regularly  through,  but  though 
I  only  tasted  a  mouthful  of  each,  by  the  time  I  had 
got  half  through  the  list,  before  I  got  to  "fried  oys- 
ters," of  which  I  am  "remarkably"  fond,  I  "caved  in" 
completely. 

Each  separate  dish  (except  bread  and  coffee,  which 
weren't  counted  in)  cost  a  "dime,"  and  from  this  I 
suppose  the  restaurant  took  its  name.  A  man  could 
breakfast,  dine,  or  sup  there  just  according  to  the 
length  of  his  purse.  Forty  cents  would  pay  for  a 
dinner  good  enough  for  any  one,  and  if  a  fellow  was 
getting  down  pretty  near  his  "bottom  dollar,"  he 
might  make  out  to  satisfy  himself  on  a  single  dime.  It 
wasn't  like  those  big  taverns  where  a  fellow  has  to  pay 
three  or  four  dollars  a  day,  besides  perquisites  to 
waiters  and  chambermaids,  and  shoe-blacks,  even  if 
he  should  never  eat  a  bite  in  the  house  the  whole  time ; 
for,  at  the  "Dime"  you  paid  for  just  what  you  got, 
and  no  more !  It  was  one  of  the  best  taverns  I  met 
with  in  all  my  travels,  and  I  only  wonder  there  ain't 
more  of  'em  kept  on  that  plan.  All  the  drinkables  in 
the  house  were  a  "dime"  a  glass  also,  and  it  was  a 
curious  thing  to  me  that  a  man  with  a  common  appe- 
tite was  just  able  to  eat  or  drink  a  dime's  worth  of  any- 
thing.   But  I  thought,  perhaps  there  might  be  some 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  29 1 

sort  of  proportion  between  a  man's  stomach  and  the 
tenth  part  of  a  dollar ! 

One  night,  a  house  just  opposite  to  the  ''Dime" 
caught  fire,  and  there  was  such  a  ringing  of  bells  and 
rattling  of  fire-engines,  that  it  was  enough  to  have 
woke  up  one  of  the  Seven  Sleepers.  It  put  me  in  mind 
of  a  ''feast-day"  at  San  Antonio,  when  the  bells  on  the 
old  church  always  set  up  such  a  jangle  that  it  invaria- 
bly put  my  teeth  on  edge. 

I  got  up  and  went  out  to  have  a  look  at  the  "row." 
People  were  running  backward  and  forward  on  the 
street,  hallooing  "Fire !"  as  loud  as  they  could  bawl, 
and  a  number  of  steam-squirts  were  throwing  streams 
of  water  up  to  the  very  roof  of  the  building  as  big  as 
my  arm.  I  walked  up  to  where  one  of  'em  was  in 
operation,  and  after  watching  it  for  some  time,  I 
thought  what  a  great  thing  one  of  'em  would  be  to 
water  a  "truck-patch"  with  in  a  dry  season;  so  I  asked 
the  man  who  was  working  it,  as  polite  as  I  knew  how, 
"how  much  one  of  those  'steam-squirts'  would  cost?" 
Instead  of  answering  me,  he  turned  the  nozzle  of  the 
thing  right  toward  my  bosom,  and  in  a  second  I  was 
lying  on  my  back  in  a  puddle  of  muddy  water ! 

I  "riz"  with  a  brick  in  my  hand,  and  took  him  just 
on  the  "burr"  of  the  ear  with  it,  and  down  he  went! 
As  soon  as  the  other  firemen  saw  this  they  all  levelled 
their  steam-squirts  at  me  and  knocked  me  over  again, 
and  kept  on  squirting  at  me,  until  they  washed  me 
clean  over  the  curbstone  and  on  to  the  side-walk,  when 
I  scrambled  up  and  dodged  into  an  alley,  and  made 
my  way  back  to  the  "Dime,"  as  wet  as  a  drowned  rat. 
That  "soured"  me  on  fires  completely,  and  I  went  to 
no  more  of  'em. 


292  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

It  was  while  I  was  in  Richmond  that  Prince  Albert 
paid  a  visit  to  the  city.  I  only  got  a  sight  of  him  once, 
when  he  was  riding  in  his  carriage  through  the  Ceme- 
tery grounds,  and  I  must  say  that  I  think  I  have  seen 
many  a  Dutch  boy  about  New  Braunfels  and  Freder- 
icksburg that  was  better  looking.  He  didn't  show  the 
"bloody-royal"  half  as  much  as  ''Little  Blue-Whis- 
tling-Thunder," the  young  Tonkawa  chief.  Some  of 
our  good  democratic  people  took  on  mightily  about 
this  sprig  of  royalty,  and  gave  him  big  dinners  and 
soirees  and  tea-parties;  but  for  my  part,  though  he 
bowed  politely  to  me  when  I  met  him  in  the  Cemetery 
grounds,  I  didn't  feel  in  the  least  "cowed"  or  con- 
fused by  the  compliment.  I  bowed  politely  back  to 
him,  and  wished  him  well,  and  hoped  he  would  re- 
member me  to  his  "ma"  when  he  returned  home.  I 
have  since  heard  that  the  poor  young  man  died  soon 
after  he  got  back;  but  his  "ma,"  Queen  Victoria,  was 
a  prudent  woman,  and  had  made  ample  provision  for 
all  such  accidents,  so  that  even  if  five  or  six  of  the 
"heirs  apparent"  were  to  die,  she  would  still  have 
"a  few  more  of  the  same  sort  left." 

From  Richmond  I  went  on  to  Lexington,  where  my 
relatives  lived.  They  were  all  glad  to  see  me,  and  did 
all  they  could  to  make  my  time  pass  pleasantly  while 
I  was  with  them ;  though  I  could  see  very  plainly  that 
they  all  looked  upon  me  as  a  sort  of  half-civilized 
savage  that  never  could  be  entirely  tamed;  and  per- 
haps they  were  right.  I  had  lived  too  long  the  free 
and  independent  life  of  a  ranger,  to  be  contented  a 
great  while  with  the  steady  habits  and  humdrum  ex- 
istence of  the  people  of  the  "Old  States."  I  longed 
for  the  excitement  of  the  chase,  an  Indian  foray,  a 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  293 

buffalo-hunt,  or  a  bear-fight.  However,  everything 
for  a  time  was  new  and  strange  to  me,  and  I  enjoyed 
myself  as  much  as  I  could  have  expected. 

A  few  weeks  after  my  arrival  I  went  to  a  "fan- 
dango'^  that  was  given  for  my  especial  benefit.  There 
was  a  great  crowd  there,  and  everybody  was  anxious 
to  see  the  "Wild  Texan,"  as  they  called  me.  I  was  the 
*4ion"  of  the  evening,"  particularly  with  the  young 
ladies,  who  never  tired  of  asking  me  questions  about 
Mexico,  Texas,  the  Indians,  prairies,  etc.  I  at  first 
answered  truly  all  the  questions  they  asked  me;  but 
when  I  found  they  evidently  doubted  some  of  the 
stories  I  told  them  which  were  facts,  I  branched  out 
and  gave  them  some  "whoppers,"  which  they  swal- 
lowed down  without  "gagging."  For  instance,  one 
young  woman  wanted  to  know  how  many  wild  horses 
I  had  ever  seen  in  a  drove.  I  told  her  perhaps  thirty 
or  forty  thousand. 

"Oh!  now!  Mr.  Wallace,"  said  she,  "don't  try  to 
make  game  of  me  in  that  way.  Forty  thousand  horses 
in  one  drove !  well,  I  declare  you  are  a  second  'Mun- 
chausen'!" 

"Well,  then,"  said  I,  "maybe  you  won't  believe  me 
when  I  tell  you  there  is  a  sort  of  spider  in  Texas  as 
big  as  a  peck  measure,  the  bite  of  which  can  only  be 
cured  by  music." 

"Oh,  yes,"  she  answered,  "I  believe  that's  all  so, 
for  I  have  read  about  them  in  a  book." 

Among  other  "whoppers,"  I  told  her  there  was  a 
"varmint"  in  Texas,  called  the  "Santa  Fe,"  that  was 
still  worse  than  the  tarantula,  for  the  best  brass  band 
in  the  country  couldn't  cure  their  sting;  that  the 
creature  had  a  hundred  legs  and  a  sting  on  every  one 


294  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

of  them,  besides  two  large  stings  in  its  forked  tail, 
and  fangs  as  big  as  a  rattlesnake's.  When  they  sting 
you  with  their  legs  alone,  you  might  possibly  live  an 
hour;  when  with  all  their  stings,  perhaps  fifteen  or 
twenty  minutes ;  but  when  they  sting  and  bite  you  at 
the  same  time,  you  first  turn  blue,  then  yellow,  and 
then  a  beautiful  bottle-green,  when  your  hair  all  fell 
out  and  your  finger  nails  dropped  off,  and  you  were  as 
dead  as  a  door-nail  in  five  minutes,  in  spite  of  all  the 
doctors  in  America. 

"Oh!  my!  Mr.  Wallace,"  said  she,  "how  have  you 
managed  to  live  so  long  in  that  horrible  country?" 

"Why,  you  see,"  said  I,  "with  my  tarantula  boots 
made  of  alligator-skin,  and  my  centipede  hunting-shirt 
made  of  tanned  rattlesnakes'  hides,  I  have  escaped 
pretty  well;  but  these  don't  protect  you  against  the 
stinging  scorpions,  'cow-killers,'  and  scaly-back 
chinches,  that  crawl  about  at  night  when  you  arc 
asleep !  The  only  way  to  keep  them  at  a  distance  is  to 
"chaw'  tobacco  and  drink  whisky,  and  that  is  the 
reason  the  Temperance  Society  never  flourished  much 
in  Texas." 

"Oh !"  said  she,  "what  a  horrible  country  that  must 
be,  where  the  people  have  to  be  stung  to  death,  or 
'chaw'  tobacco  and  drink  whisky !  I  don't  know  which 
is  the  worst." 

"Well,"  said  I,  "the  people  out  there  don't  seem  to 
mind  it  much ;  they  get  used  to  it  after  a  while ;  in  fact, 
they  seem  rather  to  like  it,  for  they  chaw  tobacco  and 
drink  whisky  even  in  the  winter-time,  when  the  'cow- 
killers'  and  stinging-lizards  are  all  frozen  up  I" 

I  had  been  introduced  to  one  young  woman  by  the 
name  of  Matilda,  who  was  as  pretty  as  a  pink!   Her 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  295 

teeth  were  as  white  as  an  alligator's,  and  her  eyes 
were  as  bright  as  two  mesquite  coals,  and  her  mouth 
looked  like  a  little  gash  cut  in  a  juicy  peach.  She  was 
a  **deadener,"  I  tell  you,  and  a  regular  "knee- 
weakener,"  in  the  bargain;  and  I  wanted  to  have  a 
little  talk  with  her  the  worst  in  the  world ;  but  some- 
how I  felt  a  little  afraid  to  venture.  After  a  little 
while,  however,  she  came  up  to  me  of  her  own  accord, 
and  began  to  ask  me  a  great  many  questions  about 
Texas  and  the  Indians,  wild  horses,  and  the  prairies, 
etc.  Among  other  things,  she  asked  me  if  young 
women  were  in  great  demand  in  Texas. 

"I  should  think  they  were,"  said  I.  "The  day  the 
first  young  woman  came  into  our  settlement  there  were 
fourteen  Spanish  horses  badly  foundered  on  sedge- 
grass,  by  the  young  men  who  flocked  in  to  see  her, 
from  forty  miles  around;  and  the  next  morning  she 
had  seventeen  offers  of  marriage  before  breakfast! 
The  young  woman  was  a  little  confused  by  so  many 
applications  at  once,  and  before  she  could  make  up 
her  mind  which  one  to  take,  one  of  the  ^rancheros* 
watched  his  chance,  and  the  first  time  she  walked  out 
he  caught  her  up  behind  him  on  his  horse,  rode  off  full 
speed  to  San  Patrico,  drew  his  six-shooter  on  the 
padre,  and  forced  him  to  marry  them  on  the  spot. 
This  saved  the  woman  all  further  trouble  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  they  are  now  living  happily  together  on  one 
of  the  finest  cattle  ranches  in  the  County  of  Karnes." 

"Oh!  I  declare,"  said  Miss  Matilda,  "that  is  de- 
lightful !  How  romantic  to  be  run  off  with  in  that  way 
by  a  handsome  young  'ranchero.'  I  think,  Mr.  Wal- 
lace, I  shall  have  to  go  to  Texas." 


296  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

"You  might  do  worse,"  said  I;  "and  besides,  you 
would  stand  a  chance  of  being  run  away  with  by  some 
great  Comanche  or  Tonkawa  chief,  with  a  bow  and 
quiver  on  his  back  and  eagle's  feathers  on  his  head, 
and  nothing  else  to  speak  of  in  the  way  of  clothes." 

Miss  Matilda  didn't  seem  to  hear  the  last  part  of 
my  speech,  for  she  jumped  up  and  clapped'  her  little 
hands:  "Oh,"  said  she,  "wouldn't  that  be  fine?  To 
gallop  over  the  flowery  prairies,  free  as  the  wind, 
from  morning  till  night,  and  listen  to  the  feathered 
songsters  pouring  forth  their  untaught  melodies  from 
every  grove  and  shady  dell !  Oh,  it  would  be  splendid, 
Mr.  Wallace!" 

"Yes,"  said  I,  "it  would.  One  of  the  handsomest 
young  women  in  our  settlement  was  carried  off,  three 
or  four  years  ago,  by  'He-che-puck-sa-sa,'  the  *Bellow- 
ing  Bull,'  and  when  I  went  on  a  visit  to  his  tribe,  not 
long  ago,  she  was  the  favorite  wife  and  head  squaw 
of  the  wigwam,  and  had  brass  rings  enough  on  her 
arms  and  legs  to  have  made  a  pair  of  'dog  irons,'  if 
they  had  been  melted  up,  besides  one  in  her  nose  as 
big  as  the  palm  of  my  hand." 

"Why!  how  many  wives  did  the  Mormon  have?" 
asked  Miss  Matilda,  looking  a  little  down  in  the 
mouth. 

"Oh!  I  can't  say  exactly,"  I  answered;  "I  only  saw 
six;  but  he  had  another  wigwam  at  the  village  below. 
But,"  said  I,  "Miss  Matilda,  after  riding  over  the 
flowery  prairies  all  day,  and  listening  to  the  coyotes 
howling  in  every  grove  and  dell,  where  will  you  put  up 
at  night ;  and  how  will  you  manage  to  get  along  with- 
out hot  rolls  for  breakfast,  and  baked  custard  for 
dinner?" 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  297 

"Oh,"  said  she,  "I  don't  care  for  them;  I  can  do 
very  well  without  them;  all  I  want  is  a  nice  cup  of 
coffee  in  the  morning,  and  a  biscuit  or  a  slice  of  toast, 
and  a  little  fresh  butter,  or  a  few  fresh-laid  eggs ;  and 
for  dinner  a  few  vegetables  and  wild  fruits,  and  now 
and  then  a  nice  beefsteak  or  a  saddle  of  venison 
roasted  before  the  fire !" 

"Yes,"  says  I,  "that's  all  reasonable  enough,  and 
you  could  get  them,  I  suppose,  at  any  time ;  but  you 
see,  the  Indians  don't  cook  their  meat." 

"The  cannibals!"  exclaimed  Miss  Matilda;  "they 
certainly  don't  eat  it  raw,  do  they?" 

"Yes,"  said  I,  "as  a  general  thing;  only  sometimes, 
when  a  fellow  feels  a  little  squeamish,  he  fastens  a 
beef  or  mule  steak  under  his  saddle,  and  after  riding 
and  jolting  on  it  all  day,  he  finds  it  nicely  'done'when 
he  stops  at  night;  and  it's  a  very  convenient  way  of 
cooking,  too,  especially  when  a  fellow  is  in  a  hurry 
(which  the  Indians  always  are,  for  they  are  always 
after  somebody,  or  else  somebody  is  after  them)  ;  and 
besides,  they  say  it  is  the  best  thing  in  the  world  for 
a  sore-back  horse !" 

"Oh!  dear,"  said  Miss  Matilda,  "I  don't  believe 
I'll  go  to  Texas,  after  all;  for  if  I  do,  I  must  put  up 
with  a  *ranchero' — they  don't  eat  their  meat  raw,  do 
they?" 

"No,"  said  I,  "except  when  they  are  out  on  the 
plains,  and  can't  find  buffalo-chips  enough  to  cook  it 
with." 

"Oh!  tell  me,  Mr.  Wallace,"  said  she,  "did  you 
ever  see  a  'mirage'  on  the  plains?" 

"A  mirage?"  said  I,  rather  taken  aback,  for  I 
hadn't  the  least  idea  what  she  meant,  unless  it  was  a 


298  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

drove  of  mustangs  or  a  herd  of  buffalo;  "why,  cer- 
tainly, I  have  seen  a  thousand  of  'em." 

"I  didn't  think  they  were  so  common,"  said  she. 

"Oh,  yes,"  I  answered;  "the  last  one  I  saw  was  just 
back  of  Santa  Fe,  and  it  stampeded  when  we  got  in 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  it;  and  such  a  dust  as  was 
kicked  up  you  never  saw,  for  there  hadn't  been  a  drop 
of  rain  there  in  six  months." 

"Well,  I  declare!"  said  Miss  Matilda;  "I  always 
heard  that  the  mirage  would  disappear  as  you  ap- 
proached it,  but  I  never  heard  of  one  kicking  up  a  dust 
before." 

"No,"  said  I ;  "they  don't  in  other  countries,  where 
the  ground  is  kept  wet  by  constant  rain ;  but  in  Texas, 
you  see,  it  is  different." 

Just  then  a  dapper-looking  young  fellow  came  up 
and  asked  Miss  Matilda  if  he  might  have  the  pleasure 
of  dancing  with  her  that  set,  and  she  walked  off  with 
him.  I  took  a  dislike  to  that  young  fellow  at  once,  and 
felt  for  "Old  Butch,"  without  knowing  what  I  was 
about!  The  fact  is,  I  rather  fancied  this  young 
woman,  and  I  determined,  the  next  time  I  met  up  with 
her,  to  give  her  a  better  account  of  Texas,  and  leave 
out  all  about  the  centipedes  and  "raw  meat." 

Well,  sir !  I  staid  with  my  kinsfolk  in  Old  Virginny 
till  I  began  to  pine  for  the  prairies  and  woods  once 
more.  They  were  as  kind  to  me  as  they  could  be,  but 
feather  beds,  tight  rooms,  and  three  meals  a  day  were 
too  much  for  me,  and,  like  old  General  Taylor,  when 
he  was  taken  from  "camps"  to  the  "White  House,'* 
I  fell  away  daily,  and  "went  off  my  feed"  entirely; 
and,  like  him,  I  suppose  I  should  have  gone  up  the 
spout,  if  I  had  staid  much  longer.  I  helped  matters  a 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  299 

little  by  taking  a  camp-hunt  of  a  couple  of  weeks  in  the 
Blue  Ridge  Mountains,  where  I  killed  the  last  bear,  I 
suppose,  that  was  ever  seen  in  that  part  of  Old  Vir- 
ginny,  for  when  his  carcass  was  hauled  in,  people  came 
from  twenty  miles  around  to  have  a  look  at  it.  But  I 
never  got  entirely  to  rights  again  till  I  returned  to 
Texas  and  got  into  an  Indian  "scrimmage,"  and  lifted 
the  hair  off  of  one  or  two  of  them  with  the  aid  of  "Old 
Butch."  That  night,  for  the  first  time,  my  appetite 
came  back  to  me,  and  I  ate  six  pounds  of  buffalo- 
hump,  a  side  of  ribs,  and  a  roasted  marrow-gut,  and 
ever  since  I  have  been  "as  well  as  could  be  expected." 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 

Wallace  Gives  Jack  Dobell  His  Opinion  of  Farming — Uncle 
Josh — The  Jews  a  Sensible  People — Wallace  Makes  His 
Arrangements  for  a  Crop — He  and  "Keechie"  Try  Plough- 
ing— Both  Disgusted — Queer  Muskmelon — Ruined  by  the 
Drought — How  Wallace  Was  Cheated  Out  of  His  "Roasting 
Ears" — Living  on  Watermelons  and  "Poor  Doe" — Wallace's 
Future  Prospects — Conclusion. 

OME  years  ago,  while  on  my  way  to  the  city  of 
San  Antonio,  I  lost  my  road,  and  after  wander- 
ing about  the  prairies  till  nearly  sunset,  I  con- 
cluded to  strike  camp,  and  make  a  fresh  start  in  the 
morning.  But  just  as  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  pass 
the  night  at  "Sprawls,"  and  put  up  as  well  as  I  could 
with  such  accommodations  as  are  usually  furnished  by 
that  extensive  establishment,  I  thought  I  saw  some 
faint  symptoms  of  a  "settlement"  ahead  of  me.  Spur- 
ring on  my  jaded  horse,  I  at  length  came  to  a  sort  of 
hybrid  between  a  log  cabin  and  a  half-faced  camp,  in 
front  of  which  a  man  was  seated  on  a  fallen  tree, 
busily  engaged  in  rubbing  up  his  rifle. 

"Can  you  give  me  such  directions,  my  friend,"  said 
I,  "as  will  enable  me  to  find  my  way  back  to  the  main 
road  to  San  Antonio?" 

The  man  looked  up  as  he  replied  to  my  question, 
and  to  my  astonishment  I  recognized  my  old  friend 
and  messmate,  Big-Foot  Wallace. 

"Why,  hello.  Foot,"  said  I,  "have  you  forgotten 
your  old  'compadre,'  Jack  Dobell?" 

Big-Foot  looked  at  me  dubiously  for  a  minute, 
then,  springing  up  from  the  log,  he  seized  me  by  the 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  3OI 

hand  and  gave  It  such  a  grip  that  my  fingers  stuck 
together  for  five  minutes  afterward. 

*'Get  down,  Dobell,"  said  he,  "and  rest  your  face 
and  hands.  You  must  stay  with  me  all  night,  and  in 
the  morning  I'll  pilot  you  out  to  the  road  myself.  It's 
a  fact,  though,"  continued  Big-Foot,  looking  ruefully 
around  upon  the  apparently  scant  accommodations 
afforded  by  his  "ranch,"  "it's  a  fact,  though,  I  haven't 
got  much  to  offer  you.  Crops  have  failed  entirely, 
but  there's  pretty  smart  of  good  grass  in  that  hollow 
yonder  for  your  nag;  and  my  partner,  Jackson,  was 
lucky  enough  to  kill  a  fat  buck  to-day.  So  get  down 
at  once,  for  I  have  a  heap  to  tell  you  about  what  has 
happened  to  me  since  we  last  met,  and  particularly 
about  a  scurvy  trick  my  partner,  Jim  Jackson  there" 
(pointing  to  a  remarkably  homely  individual  who  was 
busily  engaged  near  by  in  "peeling"  the  hide  from  the 
aforesaid  buck)  "played  off  upon  me  about  a  month 
ago." 

Without  further  "palaver,"  I  dismounted  from  my 
horse,  and,  under  Big-Foot's  guidance,  proceeded  to 
stake  him  out  in  a  snug  little  valley,  where  the  mes- 
quite  grass  grew  rank  and  luxuriantly. 

"You  needn't  be  afraid  to  stake  him  so  far  from 
camp — there's  no  Indians  about  here  now,"  said  Big- 
Foot,  with  a  melancholy  expression  of  countenance, 
as  if  he  was  heartily  sick  of  "these  piping  times  of 
peace,"  and  longed  to  see  once  more  the  stirring 
scenes  of  bygone  days.  "I  do  believe  there  hasn't  been 
an  Indian  in  ten  miles  of  this  place  for  the  last  twelve 
months." 

"Why,  you  don't  tell  me,  Big-Foot,"  said  I,  "that 


302 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF 


you  have  been  all  that  time  without  a  single  'scrim- 
mage' with  the  Mexicans  or  Indians?" 

''Yes,"  said  he,  "with  the  exception  of  a  little 
'tussle'  I  had  with  the  'Tonks,'  about  six  months  ago, 
on  the  Llano,  I  haven't  had  a  row  of  any  sort  since  I 
'drove  my  pegs  down'  in  this  settlement.  And  no  won- 
der, neither,  for  the  people  are  'piling  in'  here  as  thick 
as  pig-tracks  around  a  corn-crib  door;  and  they  have 
fenced  up  the  prairies  in  such  a  way  that  the  Indians 
won't  venture  in,  for  fear  of  being  'hemmed  up.'  If  I 
only  knew  where  all  these  people  come  from,  I'd  go 
there  right  off,  for  there  can't  be  any  one  left  behind, 
and  a  fellow  wouldn't  be  'scrouged'  to  death,  as  he  is 
here  now.  Of  all  things  in  the  world,  I  hate  being 
'fenced  up' ;  I  want  plenty  of  elbow-room  and  plenty 
of  'outlet,'  but  here  you  can't  travel  half  a  dozen  miles 
in  any  direction,  without  being  headed  off  by  some- 
body's fence." 

On  our  return  to  the  "ranch,"  we  took  a  seat  on  the 
log  which  answered  Big-Foot  in  place  of  a  sofa,  and 
he  said  to  me,  "Well,  in  the  first  place,  I  suppose  you 
would  like  to  know  how  I  came  to  settle  here,  and  take 
up  with  the  business  of  farming. 

"You  see,  after  the  Mexican  war  had  ended,  and 
that  chap  with  the  gold  epaulets  on  his  shoulders  and 
the  'chicken  fixings'  on  his  coat-sleeves  had  mustered 
us  out  of  the  service  and  paid  us  off,  Jackson  and  I  con- 
cluded, as  we  had  saved  up  a  smart  pile  of  money  be- 
tween us,  that  we  would  try  our  hands  at  'ranching.' 
Neither  of  us  knew  anything  about  it,  but  we  thought 
it  would  be  plain  sailing  enough,  as  things  appeared 
to  grow  in  this  country  pretty  much  of  their  own 
accord  anyhow,  without  requiring  a  great  deal  of  hard 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  303 

work,  of  which  neither  of  us  were  'overly'  fond.  So 
we  bought  two  hundred  acres  of  land  here,  from 
Uncle  Josh  (and  by  the  same  token,  he  made  us  pay  a 
'swingeing'  price  for  it — twenty-five  cents  an  acre, 
half  cash  down). 

"You  know  Uncle  Josh,  don't  you?  There  never 
was  a  better-hearted  fellow  in  the  world,  and  he  has 
but  one  little  failing:  whenever  he  can  get  to  where 
there's  liquor,  either  the  liquor  gives  out,  or  he  gets 
'Ingin  drunk'  certain — one  or  the  other.  I  have  often 
taken  him  out  in  the  chaparral,  and  talked  to  him  with 
tears  in  my  eyes  as  big  as  glass  marbles,  about  his 
carrying  on  so  in  that  way;  but  all  I  can  ever  get  out 
of  him  is,  'that  it's  all  owing  to  the  high  price  of  putty,' 
which,  he  says,  'riz  half  a  cent  on  the  ton,  just  as  he 
had  sold  out.' 

"But,  as  I  was  telling  you,  after  Jackson  and  I  had 
bought  this  piece  of  land  from  'Uncle  Josh,'  the  first 
thing  we  did  was  to  build  this  shanty,  and  fence  In, 
that  'truck-patch'  you  see  yonder;  and  long  before  we 
got  through  with  the  job,  I  tell  you  I  had  taken  a  per- 
fect disgust  for  farming.  To  sit  here  comfortably  on 
this  log,  and  look  at  that  little  shanty  and  the  truck- 
patch  alongside  of  it,  you  would  think  them  a  mere 
circumstance ;  and.  In  fact,  they  don't  make  a  very  im- 
posing show  in  the  way  of  improvements ;  but  just  you 
try  your  hand  at  riving  a  few  hundred  boards  out  of 
these  knotty  post-oaks,  that  split  just  as  well  cross- 
ways  as  lengthways,  and  if  you  don't  lather  'a  few,' 
and  cuss  a  few  more,  then  I'm  mistaken.  And,  If  that 
don't  satisfy  you,  just  pitch  into  that  chaparral  out 
yonder,  where  the  thorns  are  as  sharp  and  as  crooked 
as  cats'  claws,  and  perhaps,  by  the  time  you  are  tat- 


304  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

tooed  all  over  like  a  New-Zealander,  and  there's  noth- 
ing left  of  your  pants  but  the  waistbands,  and  only  the 
collar  of  your  shirt,  you  will  come  to  the  same  con- 
clusion that  I  did,  that  farming  ain't  quite  so  pleasant 
a  business  as  following  an  Indian  trail  on  an  easy- 
going horse,  with  a  fair  prospect  of  overtaking  the 
women  and  children. 

"In  my  opinion,  the  Jews  are  the  most  sensible 
people  about  'farming,'  after  all.  You'll  find  'em 
everywhere  making  money  at  all  sorts  of  trades  and 
occupations;  but  whoever  heard  of  a  Jew  that  fol- 
lowed 'grubbing  the  ground'  for  a  living?  Even  in  the 
time  of  Moses,  you  know,  they  went  'scootin'  '  around 
the  country  for  forty  years,  living  on  manna  and 
grasshoppers,  just  for  an  excuse  to  keep  from  building 
shanties  and  hoeing  corn.  They  are  a  shrewd,  smart 
people,  and  I'd  join  'em  at  once,  only  I'm  opposed  to 
their  'earmarks,'  and  don't  like  being  circumscribed 
and  hemmed  up,  as  I  told  you.  Besides,  I  don't  want 
to  give  up  old  'Ned,'*  of  which  I  am  remarkably  fond. 
Take  my  advice,  Dobell,  and  never  do  you  try  'farm- 
ing,' unless  you  have  got  half  a  dozen  darkeys  and  a 
small  'trash  gang'  to  clear  away  the  'roughness.' 

"Well,  as  I  was  saying,  after  we  had  worked  and 
'fussed'  around  here  more  than  a  month,  and  got  the 
shanty  built  and  the  ground  fenced  in,  I  went  into 
town  and  bought  a  plough,  shovels,  spades,  hoes,  and 
all  sorts  of  farming  ammunition,  so  as  to  have  every- 
thing ready  when  the  planting  season  came  around. 
I  went  to  a  drug-store  and  bought  all  kinds  of  seeds, 
done  up  in  little  brown  paper  parcels;  for,  thinks  I, 
maybe  farming  is  like  shooting  at  ducks  with  mixed 
*A  Southern  term  for  bacon. 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  305 

shot:  if  a  No.  4  don't  hit  'em  in  the  body,  perhaps  a 
No.  7  will  take  'em  in  the  head.  If  parsnips  don't  do 
well,  maybe  beets  will.  I  didn't  forget  muskmelons 
and  watermelons  (for  I  am  powerfully  fond  of  'em, 
I  am)  ;  and  well  it  was  I  didn't,  as  I'll  tell  you  before 
I'm  done. 

"The  first  thing  I  did,  when  I  got  back  from  town, 
was  to  hitch  my  saddle-horse,  old  'Keechie,'  into  the 
plough;  and  if  ever  I  saw  a  shame-faced  brute,  he  was 
one.  He  looked  as  if  he  thought  he  had  got  down  to 
'the  lowest  notch'  at  last.  He  was  so  cowed  he  went 
off  as  quiet  as  a  lamb,  and  never  cut  up  the  first  'shine.' 
I  had  never  tried  ploughing  before  in  my  life,  but  I 
had  seen  other  people  at  it,  and  I  thought  it  was  the 
easiest  thing  in  the  world;  but  I'm  blamed  if  I  have 
got  the  'hang'  of  it  rightly  to  this  day.  Sometimes  the 
crazy  thing  would  scoot  along  the  top  of  the  ground 
for  a  yard  or  so,  and  then,  kerwhoop !  it  would  come 
up  against  a  grub,  and  jar  the  very  nails  off  my  fingers. 
Then  again  it  would  dive  right  down  into  the  earth, 
as  if  it  thought  I  was  engaged  in  digging  cellars  by  the 
job ;  and  whenever  I  tried  to  bring  it  up,  I  was  sure  to 
overdo  the  thing,  and  away  it  would  go  again  scooting 
along  the  top  of  the  ground,  until  another  grub  would 
bring  it  up  all  standing.  I  pledge  you  my  word, 
Dobell,  after  I  had  run  the  first  furrow,  and  looked 
back  at  it,  it  made  me  dizzy,  it  was  so  monstrous 
crooked.  However,  we  at  last  got  through  with  the 
job;  though,  if  you  had  seen  the  field  after  we  had  it 
done,  you  would  have  thought  a  gang  of  wild  hogs 
had  been  rooting  in  it  for  the  last  month. 

"Well,  we  planted  the  most  of  it  in  corn,  and  the 
rest  we  planted  with  the  seeds  I  had  bought  at  the 


306  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

drug-Store.  Among  them  was  a  paper  labelled  *musk- 
melon  seed'  (and  I  am  remarkably  fond  of  musk- 
melons,  I  am)  ;  so  I  planted  them  in  the  richest  part  of 
the  patch,  and  tended  them  well  till  they  began  to 
grow  finely.  But,  one  day,  as  I  was  passing  through 
the  patch,  I  saw  a  young  melon  sprouting  on  one  of 
the  vines,  and  as  it  appeared  to  have  a  rather  queer 
look,  I  stooped  down  to  examine  it  closely,  and  may  I 
never  scalp  another  Indian  if  it  wasn't  a  regular 
bottle-gourd !  I  turned  in  right  away  and  dug  all  the 
vines  up,  for  fear  strangers  might  think  I  had  a  touch 
of  nigger  blood  in  me,  for  you  know  the  old  saying, 
'A  poor  man  for  posterity,  and  a  nigger  for  gourds.* 

"Well,  everything  grew  off  splendidly  for  a  spell, 
and  the  corn  seemed  to  do  just  as  well  in  the  crooked 
furrows  as  if  they  had  been  straight;  but  after  a  while 
the  drought  set  in,  and  the  drier  it  got  the  more  the 
corn  turned  'yaller,'  until  at  last  it  wilted  right  up.  I 
tried  my  best  to  make  it  rain,  but  it  was  all  no  use. 
Sometimes,  the  frogs  croaked  powerfully  in  the  *slash' 
over  yonder,  but  it  never  rained  for  all  that ;  and  at 
last  the  slash  went  dry,  and  the  frogs  would  have  died 
if  they  hadn't  turned  to  highland  toads.  Sometimes 
the  wind  was  due  east,  and  my  corns  hurt  me  terribly, 
but  still  it  didn't  rain.  Sometimes  there  was  a  great 
'hello'  around  the  moon,  as  big  as  a  wagon-wheel,  and 
I  made  sure  we  would  have  rain  then ;  but  we  didn't, 
and  never  did  until  everything  was  as  dry  as  this  long 
yarn  I  am  spinning  now. 

"But  to  cut  it  short,  the  crop  turned  out  a  perfect 
failure.  And  now  I  will  tell  you  about  the  scurvy  trick 
that  Jackson  there  played  off  on  me,  not  long  ago.  I 
wish  my  rifle  may  snap  the  next  fair  chance  I  get  at  an 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  307 

Indian,  if  I  thought  there  was  as  much  meanness  in 
*human  natur.'  You  see,  though  it  is  true  the  crop 
had  failed  teetotally,  there  were  about  roasting-ears 
enough  in  the  patch  to  make  one  pretty  fair  mess ;  and 
I  told  Jackson  one  morning  that  I  would  go  out  and 
kill  a  fat  buck,  and  when  I  got  back  we  would  gather 
the  crop,  and  have  one  good  'bait'  out  of  it,  anyhow. 
So  I  swabs  out  old  Haco,  as  I  call  my  rifle,  and  off  I 
put,  up  one  side  of  Doe  Run  and  down  the  other,  then 
over  to  York's  Creek,  and  from  there  to  Little  Sandy, 
but  not  a  single  deer  could  I  find.  At  last,  however, 
when  I  had  given  up  all  hopes  of  killing  a  deer  that 
day,  and  was  making  tracks  for  home,  just  after  cross- 
ing Burnt  Boot,  I  'upped'  as  fine  a  buck  as  you  ever 
saw.  I  peeled  his  hide  off  in  short  order,  cut  out  the 
'saddle,'  and  started  for  home  at  a  double-quick,  for 
by  this  time  I  was  getting  as  hungry  as  a  coyote.  When 
I  got  in  about  two  hundred  yards  of  the  camp,  I 
thought  I  smelt  'fried  corn,'  and  mistrusted  something 
was  wrong  immediately;  and,  sure  enough,  when  I 
walked  into  the  ranch,  there  sat  that  rascal  Jackson 
'shoveling'  the  last  grain  from  the  skillet  down  his 
throat. 

"He  had  taken  advantage  of  my  absence  to  gather 
and  eat  up  the  whole  crop  we  had  been  working  four 
or  five  months  to  make !  He  hadn't  left  a  nubbin  as 
big  as  my  thumb  in  the  field,  and  consequently  all  my 
share  of  that  crop  was  just  one  smell  of  fried  corn; 
and  I  suppose  I  shouldn't  have  got  that  much  if  I 
hadn't  happened  to  have  the  wind  of  Jackson  as  I 
came  up. 

"Well,  from  this  time  on,  things  got  worse  and 
worse.    The  potatoes  took  the  dry  rot — and  who 


308  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 

could  blame  'em,  as  a  drop  of  rain  hadn't  fallen  in 
three  months? — and  everything  else  we  had  planted 
wilted  right  up,  except  the  watermelons.  They  did 
finely,  I  suppose  because  they  carry  their  own  water 
along  with  'em,  and  of  course  are  independent  of  the 
weather.  By  this  time,  what  with  buying  ploughs  and 
hoes  and  other  implements,  etc.,  our  money  gave  out 
entirely,  and  we  were  compelled  to  live  on  water- 
melons, with  now  and  then  a  dish  of  'poor  doe,'  which, 
as  you  know,  isn't  much  stronger  diet  than  the  water- 
melons. I  admit  that  watermelons  are  first  rate  in 
their  way,  but  when  a  fellow  has  nothing  but  water- 
melons for  breakfast,  watermelons  for  dinner,  and 
watermelons  for  supper,  he  fairly  hates  the  sight  of 
one  after  a  while.  I  pledge  you  my  word,  Dobell,  that 
after  I  had  lived  for  a  week  or  so  on  'em,  I  could  hear 
the  water  'jug'  in  me  whenever  I  stumped  my  toe  as 
I  walked  along !  And  then  they  are  such  unsatisfying 
and  'ill-convenient'  diet!  In  fifteen  minutes  after  eat- 
ing a  fellow  that  would  weigh  twenty  pounds,  I  was 
just  as  hungry  as  ever. 

"Once  there  came  along  some  travelers  here,  who 
wanted  dinner,  and  I  tell  you,  Dobell,  I  have  never 
felt  so  mean  in  my  life  since  the  time  Polly  Jenkins 
said,  'No,  sir-ee,  horse-fly.  Bob,'  to  a  little  question  I 
asked  her,  as  I  did  when  I  took  the  travelers  out  to 
the  'patch,'  and,  giving  them  a  butcher-knife  apiece, 
told  them  to  'pitch  in,'  as  their  dinner  was  before 
them.  However,  I  see  Jackson  has  got  the  steaks 
ready  for  supper;  so  draw  up  a  'chunk,'  Dobell,  and 
take  a  'bite.' 

"No,  Dobell,"  he  continued,  as  he  helped  my  tin 
platter  to  about  a  pound  of  juicy  steak,  "I'd  rather 
be  that  old  chunk  you  are  sitting  on,  sailing  forever 


BIG-FOOT  WALLACE  309 

round  and  round  in  a  'dead  eddy/  than  live  here  as  I 
have  done  for  the  last  six  months." 

"But,  Big-Foot,"  said  I,  "if  you  are  going  to  give 
up  'farming,'  what  will  you  go  at?  There  won't  be 
any  more  rangers  wanted,  you  know,  because  the 
Government  has  settled  all  the  Indians  upon  their 
'reserves,'  where  they  are  learning  them  to  farm  and 
to  eat  fat  beef  in  place  of  horse-meat." 

"Yes,"  said  Big-Foot,  with  a  melancholy  shake  of 
the  head,  "all  that  is  very  true,  I  know,  and  I  hear  the 
Indians  take  to  it  kindly — least  ways,  to  the  beef. 
However,  Jackson  tells  me  there's  a  couple  of  'gals' 
moved  into  the  settlement  down  below  here,  that  are 
as  rich  as  'cow-yards,'  and  we  have  concluded  to 
'slick-up'  a  little  and  hunt  stock  awhile  in  that  neigh- 
borhood. I  think  I  shall  stand  a  pretty  good  chance 
to  get  one  of  them,  seeing  as  how  there  are  worse- 
looking  chaps  than  I  am ;  but  as  for  Jackson  there,  he 
is  so  uncommonly  ugly,  that  if  a  'gal'  was  dying  of 
some  sort  of  sickness  that  could  only  be  cured  by 
marrying,  I'm  doubtful,  if  he  was  to  offer  himself,  if 
she  wouldn't  rather  'kick  the  bucket,'  and  him,  too. 
Look  at  them  teeth  of  his,  will  you,  how  they  stick  out 
in  front,  just  as  if  he  had  been  made  on  purpose  to 
'eat  pumpkins  through  a  fence'." 

"But,  Big-Foot,"  said  I,  "if  you  should  accidentally 
fail  in  the  'gal  speculation,'  what  will  you  do  then?" 

"That  is  what  I  call  a  'poser',"  said  he ;  "but  there's 
one  thing  you  may  depend  on :  just  as  soon  as  I  hear 
of  a  Comanche  starving  to  death  for  want  of  a  horse 
to  eat,  I'll  try  'farming,'  again,  and  not  before.  Jack- 
son, bring  out  the  bottle-gourd — there's  a  little  'wake 
robin'  left  in  it  yet,  and  I  have  talked  till  I  am  as  dry 
as  a  'buffalo-chip'." 


.•y'^ 


